Cuomo Press Releases Transcripts April 12, 2020 - April 23, 2020
Cuomo Press Releases Transcripts April 12, 2020 - April 23, 2020
April 12, 2020.
Video, B-roll, Audio, Photos, & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Returns Ventilators, Thanks Pathways Nursing Home for Generous Contribution in Fight Against COVID-19. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-b-roll-audio-photos-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-returns-ventilators-thanks-pathways
Governor Delivers Cookies for Staff and Nursing Home Residents Baked by His Daughters
Governor Cuomo: "That a nursing home would come forward, unsolicited, gratuitously, and say we want to lend 35 ventilators in case our neighbors downstate need them. What an incredibly beautiful, generous gesture. I want to say thank you on behalf of all of the people of the state. The family of New York we talk about. We talk about that we're a family - upstate, downstate - we're all one family. That family is there to support one another and I want to say thank you on their behalf."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo returned ventilators to the Pathways Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Niskayuna. Pathways Nursing home made an unsolicited contribution of theselifesaving machines to New York State as part of the ongoing efforts against COVID-19. The Governor also delivered cookies for staff and nursing home residents baked by his daughters.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
B-ROLL of the Governor thanking nursing home staff is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS are available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning, everyone. We are in Niskayuna this morning which is right outside of Albany. We are at the Pathways Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. And I came to say happy Easter and happy Passover. Most of all, thank you. We're going through a difficult time here as everybody knows. We've seen a lot of pain, a lot of loss. Again last night we lost hundreds of New Yorkers to this terrible disease. It's been disorienting. Everybody is suffering on a lot of levels. People are afraid, people are anxious. They're under stress everywhere they turn. Normally you go home for solace, you go home for peace, but it's even difficult at home in this period with so many questions. So, a lot of pain, a lot of suffering. But also, when things are at their worst, sometimes people are at their best. Sometimes just when you need it, people can really show you how great they can be.
In the middle of this situation, we were worried about the hospital capacity, especially in downstate New York. That we would overwhelm the hospital system. The key piece of equipment that we needed were ventilators. This disease attacks the respiratory system, so people need ventilators. They needed many more ventilators than we actually had. So, we talked about sharing our ventilators among different hospitals, different parts of the state, because the virus doesn't attack the entire state, it attacks with more intensity in certain places.
Out of the blue one day, I got a call that said there's a nursing home in upstate New York that wants to lend 35 ventilators to downstate New York. It was unsolicited, nobody called and asked. In some ways, it was the last place that you would think would come forward because it was a nursing home. Nursing and rehabilitation center and we're most worried about nursing homes because the vulnerable population, they are in nursing homes.
And that a nursing home would come forward, unsolicited, gratuitously, and say we want to lend 35 ventilators in case ourneighbors downstate need them. What an incredibly beautiful, generous gesture. I want to say thank you on behalf of all of the people of the state. The family of New York we talk about. We talk about that we're a family, upstate, downstate, we're all one family. That family is there to support one another and I want to say thank you on their behalf.
But I also want to say thank you, personally. I also want to say thank you on a personal level because this hasn't been easy for anyone, but I want the team here and the people at Pathways to know that they gave me an inspiration and they gave me energy and they gave me resolve. Their gesture was so beautiful and so kind and so symbolic of everything we want to be at our best. Everything we aspire to be. Everything we're all trying to be. Listen to our better angels. Be better, be more generous, more gracious, more loving. Get to that level. That's what Pathways did and they did it for me and I wanted to say thank you very much. Thank you and God bless you.
April 12, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Directing Employers to Provide Masks to Employees Who Interact with the Public. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-issues-executive-order-directing-employers
Issues Executive Order Expanding Eligibility for More Individuals to Conduct Antibody Tests
Governor Joins NGA Chair Maryland Governor Hogan in a Bipartisan Effort Calling for $500 Billion in Aid to States; Reiterates Call for the Federal Government to Repeal SALT
Governor Returned Ventilators to Pathways Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Niskayuna; Thanks Facility for Generous Contribution in Fight Against COVID-19
Confirms 8,236 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 188,694; New Cases in 44 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced he will issue an Executive Order directing employers to provide essential workers with cloth or surgical masks free of charge to wear when directly interacting with the public.
Governor Cuomo also announced he will issue an Executive Order to expand eligibility of individuals to conduct antibody tests to help ensure as many New Yorkers as possible have access to antibody testing as the state continues to bring this critical testing to scale. The State previously provided labs with the flexibility to allow more workers to do testing for COVID-19; this executive order expands that authority so the same workers can perform antibody tests.
The Governor also joined National Governors Association Chair, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan in a bipartisan effort calling for $500 billion in aid to states. The federal CARES Act contained zero funding to offset drastic state revenue shortfalls. The Governor also reiterated his call for the Federal government to repeal SALT.
Earlier today, Governor Cuomo returned ventilators to the Pathways Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Niskayuna. Pathways Nursing home made an unsolicited contribution of these lifesaving machines to New York State as part of the ongoing efforts against COVID-19. The Governor also delivered cookies for staff and nursing home residents baked by his daughters.
The keys to reopening the economy are continuing to limit the spread of the virus and ramping up antibody testing.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
"The big question for everyone right now is when do we reopen the economy, but first we need to make sure we have a smart, safe and coordinated plan in place to do it without risking public health," Governor Cuomo said. "The keys to reopening the economy are continuing to limit the spread of the virus and ramping up antibody testing. I am going to issue two executive orders - one directing employers to provide essential workers with a mask to wear when they are interacting with the public, and one to expand the number of people who are eligible to conduct the antibody test. These measures will be key to getting people back to work and making sure they are protected when they do go back."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 8,236 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 188,694 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 188,694 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
478
32
Allegany
26
0
Broome
126
9
Cattaraugus
28
9
Cayuga
29
1
Chautauqua
22
1
Chemung
60
0
Chenango
63
2
Clinton
43
0
Columbia
79
2
Cortland
18
1
Delaware
39
0
Dutchess
1,838
94
Erie
1,571
99
Essex
12
0
Franklin
12
1
Fulton
21
0
Genesee
69
2
Greene
44
7
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
37
0
Jefferson
46
2
Lewis
6
0
Livingston
30
0
Madison
101
2
Monroe
798
31
Montgomery
29
0
Nassau
23,553
969
Niagara
183
16
NYC
103,208
4,900
Oneida
195
14
Onondaga
397
17
Ontario
57
1
Orange
5,027
180
Orleans
25
1
Oswego
38
1
Otsego
43
0
Putnam
497
3
Rensselaer
105
9
Rockland
7,721
244
Saratoga
196
9
Schenectady
199
5
Schoharie
12
0
Schuyler
5
0
Seneca
16
0
St. Lawrence
85
5
Steuben
121
2
Suffolk
20,816
933
Sullivan
358
18
Tioga
19
0
Tompkins
109
1
Ulster
612
23
Warren
46
2
Washington
34
3
Wayne
42
0
Westchester
19,313
584
Wyoming
31
0
Yates
3
1
April 12, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Directing Employers to Provide Masks to Employees Who Interact with the Public. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-issues-0
Issues Executive Order Expanding Eligibility for More Individuals to Conduct Antibody Tests
Governor Joins NGA Chair Maryland Governor Hogan in a Bipartisan Effort Calling for $500 Billion in Aid to States; Reiterates Call for the Federal Government to Repeal SALT
Governor Returned Ventilators to Pathways Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Niskayuna; Thanks Facility for Generous Contribution in Fight Against COVID-19
Confirms 8,236 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 188,694; New Cases in 44 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "We need to be smart in the way we reopen. What does smart mean? It means a coordinated approach, a regional approach, and a safe approach. Nobody wants to pick between a public health strategy and an economic strategy. As Governor of this state I'm not going to pick one over the other. ... The last thing we want to see is an uptick in that infection rate and an uptick in those numbers that we worked so hard to bring down."
Cuomo: "We'll also do an executive order today which directs employers to provide essential workers with a cloth or surgical face mask to their employees when they are interacting with the public. They should provide those masks cost free."
Cuomo: "We have to also expand testing. ... There aren't a tremendously large number of people with anti-bodies, which is good news because we kept down the infection rate. But that is an important test and we have to get that test to scale and this executive order will help do that."
Cuomo: "When things are at their worst is when you will see the good, the bad, and the ugly. out of the blue a phone call came where a nursing home in upstate New York said we understand downstate may need ventilators. We want to let them borrow 35 ventilators. Unsolicited they just called and offered the 35 ventilators. we're going to find our way through this because there is an inherent goodness in people that will surprise you and they will rise to the occasion."
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo earlier today announced he will issue an Executive Order directing employers to provide essential workers with cloth or surgical masks free of charge to wear when directly interacting with the public.
Governor Cuomo also announced he will issue an Executive Order to expand eligibility of individuals to conduct antibody tests to help ensure as many New Yorkers as possible have access to antibody testing as the state continues to bring this critical testing to scale. The State previously provided labs with the flexibility to allow more workers to do testing for COVID-19; this executive order expands that authority so the same workers can perform antibody tests.
The Governor also joined National Governors Association Chair, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan in a bipartisan effort calling for $500 billion in aid to states. The federal CARES Act contained zero funding to offset drastic state revenue shortfalls. The Governor also reiterated his call for the Federal government to repeal SALT.
Earlier today, Governor Cuomo returned ventilators to the Pathways Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Niskayuna. Pathways Nursing home made an unsolicited contribution of these lifesaving machines to New York State as part of the ongoing efforts against COVID-19. The Governor also delivered cookies for staff and nursing home residents baked by his daughters.
Finally, the Governor confirmed 8,236 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 188,694 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 188,694 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
478
32
Allegany
26
0
Broome
126
9
Cattaraugus
28
9
Cayuga
29
1
Chautauqua
22
1
Chemung
60
0
Chenango
63
2
Clinton
43
0
Columbia
79
2
Cortland
18
1
Delaware
39
0
Dutchess
1,838
94
Erie
1,571
99
Essex
12
0
Franklin
12
1
Fulton
21
0
Genesee
69
2
Greene
44
7
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
37
0
Jefferson
46
2
Lewis
6
0
Livingston
30
0
Madison
101
2
Monroe
798
31
Montgomery
29
0
Nassau
23,553
969
Niagara
183
16
NYC
103,208
4,900
Oneida
195
14
Onondaga
397
17
Ontario
57
1
Orange
5,027
180
Orleans
25
1
Oswego
38
1
Otsego
43
0
Putnam
497
3
Rensselaer
105
9
Rockland
7,721
244
Saratoga
196
9
Schenectady
199
5
Schoharie
12
0
Schuyler
5
0
Seneca
16
0
St. Lawrence
85
5
Steuben
121
2
Suffolk
20,816
933
Sullivan
358
18
Tioga
19
0
Tompkins
109
1
Ulster
612
23
Warren
46
2
Washington
34
3
Wayne
42
0
Westchester
19,313
584
Wyoming
31
0
Yates
3
1
April 13, 2020.
Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on The Howard Stern Show. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/audio-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-guest-howard-stern-show
Governor Cuomo: "I communicated the facts so aggressively because when we put the policies in place, Howard, I wanted people to believe them and follow them. And New Yorkers are not going to do it just because you tell them to go in your house and close the door and don't come out for a month. 'Oh, yeah sure. I'm just going to do that because you tell me to.' They had to believe it was necessary and the compliance has actually saved lives and changed all those projection models. So, communicating to people besides the small percentage that just is defiant or ignorant frankly, it worked. It really did work. People believed and they acted responsibly."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was a guest on The Howard Stern Show to discuss New York's ongoing effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
AUDIO of the Governor's interview is available here.
Governor Cuomo: How are you doing Howard?
Howard Stern: I'm doing okay. First of all, how are you doing? I love you. I loved you when you first became Governor and I've always talked you up on the air. I particularly appreciate what you are doing during the coronavirus. You are providing real leadership and your whole demeanor is just well, for lack of a better word, a turn on. You are providing great leadership. My biggest fear though with you is that you are probably barley sleeping and that you will get sick in some way, and you will not be able to carry on in your duties. Are you taking care of yourself?
Governor Cuomo: Well, thanks for the kind words, Howard. I have been a big fan and you have known that for many, many years. It is a pleasure to be with you. Okay, are you sleeping? Who could sleep in the middle of this, right? You can get in the bed. You can try to sleep. But your mind doesn't turn off and you that people are dying literally every hour in the state. So, your job is - your every instinct says - make sure you are doing everything you can do. What else can you do? What else can you do? What else can you do? So, you try your best. I have been more careful. My instinct is to run around and be very hands on and be on the ground. After Chris, my brother, got the virus which is what the caller was talking about, I took more precautions. I got a little smarter afterwards because it really is a tough, tough thing Howard.
Howard Stern: What precautions are you taking that you didn't before?
Governor Cuomo: Well, I would - I was doing a lot of public meetings and public events and out there. We made a migration from no-handshake no-hug to bump, but I was bumping people all over the state.
Howard Stern: Right, and now you are being more careful.
Governor Cuomo: Yes, I am more isolated.
Howard Stern: And when you are dealing with this thing on a day-to-day level - In other words, what are you doing? Where are you right now?
Governor Cuomo: Right now, I am working on - I am in Albany - I am working on a public briefing that I do in the morning. Basically, I am in Albany. I was traveling all across the state. New York City was a big center for the virus, and I like to show up around the state and be in people's communities so they see that I am there and they then know that I know what is going on for them. That is curtailed. I am basically staying in Albany. I am traveling very little now and do everything from Albany and do a daily press briefing in the morning and then do the real work of this operationally in the afternoon, and at night talk to the scientists and the healthcare professionals about where this is going and what is happening. We get numbers in from every hospital at night, which tells you about the death rate and the infection rate. So, that is what every day looks like and then it is groundhog's day.
Howard Stern: Are you hopeful? Do you see - I don't mean to be the voice of doom here. But from what I see on TV, it feels like this thing won't resolve for, I hate to say it, eighteen months or something like that. Are you feeling that way?
Governor Cuomo: Well, look if you are not optimistic with this it is hard to get out of bed in the morning. So, let's start with that. Resolve, there will be waves of resolution. There will be - the first wave will be fewer people dying. And that will be an initial resolution. Unfettered panic has no place. We figured out how to slow down the beast. That is a resolution. We will start to phase into an economy again. That will be a wave of resolution. I don't think ultimate resolution comes until you get a vaccine where someone can say to you don't worry Howard there is a vaccine, you take this, you never get it, it is a non-issue. That is 18 months.
Howard Stern: Wow, you know, why do I get this feeling - I think even if it is just in your demeanor. I get this feeling that you are really in control, that you are doing everything you can, that you are organized. And I have been very critical of Trump because I don't get the feeling, I mean we know he did not take it very seriously in the beginning. He is on tape saying this will be a big nothing. Are you frustrated by the federal government? Are you in touch with Trump every single day?
Governor Cuomo: I don't talk to Trump every single day, but I do talk to him when I need to talk to him, which is at least several times a week. And he has been - Howard, look, I have, for those people who do not know the backdrop here, there has been no governor in the nation who has fought Trump as much as I have. And Trump has been nastier to me than he has been to any other governor. And that is okay, we are both New Yorkers, we speak our mind and if we have to disagree we disagree. And disagreement is good in politics. Let's be honest, you know, so everybody gets a sense of what the facts are, and let's here the debate, and then decide. But during this, I said to him from the get-go, this is not about politics. This is not about personalities. We have to be better than that for the jobs we do. And I put my hand out in partnership to work with you and we'll call it straight. If you do the right thing by New York, I will say it. If you don't, I will say it. That is the plain truth in this situation. Since then Howard he has been good in delivering for New York. He has delivered for New York. The Army Corps of Engineers, we built thousands of beds. He sent the Navy Ship Comfort to New York. He has delivered for New York. He has.
Howard Stern: Right, so in other words, that's a genuine thing. You don't have to be on good behavior or else we don't get any help from the fed. In other words, it seems to be a genuine working relationship where things are working out, which comforts me I guess.
Governor Cuomo: Yes, it's not perfect. What relationship is perfect? There are incidents even during this where he has taken shots at me and I have taken shots at him. Not gratuitous shots, but on my side they were bona fide bones of contention with things I needed. But by and large, it has worked.
Howard Stern: Don't you think - I don't know this for a fact - but don't you think he is happy that your brother, Chris, got coronavirus because he works for CNN and he has been critical of Trump? Do you think that he sits there and says "oh, good" like there is an enemies list or something like that? I feel it's that vicious.
Governor Cuomo: Well, he is, he can be vicious and attacks. Again, he is a New Yorker, right? And he has felt the sharp end of the spears in New York and he can attack. He has a - what's a nice word for it? He has a confrontational relationship with my brother. He would say Chris on CNN attacks him and CNN always attacks him and he has personally attacked my brother, partially because of me, I think, and partially because of my brother's reporting. So that is what it is - I do not believe, I will say this, the President always makes a point of saying to me, "How is Chris? Is he doing okay?" And that's not in his usual character, you know, we're not chit-chatty when we're on the phone. But he always makes the point to say that about Chris and always remember my mother, so I don't think that, I don't think that. I think it's part of it is genuine personal feeling of anger and part of it is also a little theater that goes with politics, especially the way it's happening now in Washington.
Howard Stern: Do you think - are you shocked by all this unbelievable outpouring of love for you? The guy just told me you're now on the cover of Rolling Stone, which is reserved for rock stars and in a sense, what they're saying is our governor in New York is a rock star. Are you just blown away by this sudden - now you are the sexiest man in America, my own Robin who works with me is thinking of dating you -
Robin Quivers: Well he's single, Howard.
Howard Stern: Yes, and giving herself to you. You know what it is? Confidence is sexy, is it not?
Robin Quivers: Yes, it's back.
Governor Cuomo: See, Robin - he didn't want to say single because there's an underlying resentment there that people in Howard's position have. They don't want to give up that word - they just don't want to say it. It's very interesting. You could do a whole psychological study on it.
Howard Stern: What do you mean by that, Governor?
Governor Cuomo: I just mean that married men don't like to point out that someone else is single. Have you ever noticed that?
Howard Stern: You know you're absolutely right, I don't know why. I think we're all threatened or something. I don't get it. It's really insane. Oh my god, it's too wild. This whole thing is wild, but people are - how did the whole Rolling Stone thing come about? Were you aware of that? Did you actually have to pose for a picture or did they just throw something together?
Robin Quivers: Did you sit for an interview and all of that?
Governor Cuomo: No, I wouldn't pose for a picture. This is all happening, Howard - look, I don't understand it either, because from my point of view, I am doing the exact thing I have always done -
Howard Stern: I know.
Governor Cuomo: For years. I'm not doing anything different that I've ever done - it's who I am, it's how I operate.
Howard Stern: When I ran into you last summer, I said I wish you had run for President. You know, and I know you're on record as saying you're a Biden guy and I back Biden, too, I think Biden will be terrific but god you seem like just the right choice right now with the way you speak, it's attractive and the competence is attractive. I think you would win in a landslide right now, and you know that too. Is there any regret?
Governor Cuomo: No there's no regret. There's no regret. I'm doing - I'm doing what I said I would do. And when you are doing that and you've been true to yourself and you are true to the relationships around you, you have no regrets and that's the most important thing. I tell my kids who are now with me because of this craziness, but I actually have had a chance to spend some real time with them and actual quality time where they're not running in or running out. No regrets is the most important thing to end the game with, right? And you won't have accomplished everything you wanted, but that's okay. But no regrets that you honored yourself and you honored your word and you honored your commitment and you did the right thing.
Howard Stern: When you were a kid and you saw your father never really ran for President, what age did you know you were going to be a politician and you were going to run for office? How old were you at that point when it really dawned on you as something you wanted to do?
Governor Cuomo: In my late teens. My late teens. You know my father communicated such a passion for his job and such a love and how public service was an art form, you know everybody's talking about politicians and the grubbiness and he elevated it to an art form. And how - the way he communicated it, Howard, everything else was second. You know, he would say literally unless you go into a religious order and dedicate yourself to God, everything else is second to public service because public service is about helping other people in its purest form and when its done right, it makes a significant impact on people. Just think about your other point, quickly, I haven't changed. I'm doing what I'm doing. The public's appetite has changed, and their desires have changed. Politics is no longer a celebrity contest. Who you elect to office is no longer a boutique, white wine drinkers cocktail party discussion. We see real life that this matters - the people who are in charge, who are in office, they make decisions that decide life and death, literally.
Howard Stern: Well I got to tell you, Governor, I was never jaded about politicians. I know some are, who knows what they're in it for, but I always felt they are people who have a genuine calling for public service, you know? And I think about you and I think about, "You know what, if my father had been the governor," and you could have gotten a law degree and gone into corporate law and made a killing, you would have made a fortune, you know what I mean? You'd be sitting there with a pile of dough. I always admired that you chose a life of public service. And I do appreciate it. But you know, everyone is so jaded now, "Everyone's in it for the wrong reasons," I think there are some that are really into it for the right reasons, we've become so jaded.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah but I think there's a second lens also. Okay, you're in it for the right reasons. Second, can you do the job? And what is the job? And the job today is life and death. And wow, we haven't seen that in a longtime. When was the last time government did anything that impacted your life seriously? You'd have to go back to Vietnam War for a generation that was really impacted by government. Well, government matters, and there's something called government competence and professionalism and leadership and that has been reintroduced to the public.
Howard Stern: Yep, no and what I love about this is it's finally driving that point home. These nudniks who go around, we don't want the federal government involved in our lives, we don't want government, we don't want government - they are the first ones to crumble when all of a sudden real government is needed. We need government, we need laws and we need people abiding by these laws and when times in crisis occur everybody wants good government. It's a lot of nonsense some of these maniacs who are out there. We don't want government. What do you mean you don't want government? You need government. That's it. You need good competent people.
Governor Cuomo: It's like everything else. They don't want it until they need it and then when they need it then they are desperate for it, which they should be by the way. If government doesn't do its job here this is a situation that is unparalleled and it will change the course of people's lives depending on how this is handled - period.
Howard Stern: Who do you talk to, I mean the pressure on you right now is just astronomical and I don't pretend to even understand what your day is like, so when you're freaking out and you're seeing some real horror scene here and you're up close and you know that New York is depending on you, who do you talk to unstress? You got a shrink?
Governor Cuomo: No. I sort of talk to everyone and people fill different needs for me. There is no one person, Howard. I talk to a number of people and it sort of works for me that way. But also I'm more fundamental as a person, especially the older I get. Who is going to help you with a problem that 700 people died yesterday? No one will. No one can help. There is no one who can help you.
Howard Stern: What about these nudniks? I go out there. They're not wearing masks. I see that they're congregating. What the hell is wrong with them? Why are they not getting the message? I want a mandatory lock these people down. I don't know why, they're nudniks.
Governor Cuomo: You will always have a certain percentage of nudniks, to use your word. But I'll tell you by and large one of the real stories of this, why were all the projections wrong? Remember all the projections so far have said many more people would die and many more people would be hospitalized, starting with the White House projections. We're now entering this revisionist phase where some people say this was a political conspiracy theory, it was never going to be that bad. The White House numbers, McKinsey, Columbia, Cornell University, every study that was done, the Gates funded study, they all said it was going to be much, much worse. The variable was what government policies would be put in place, quote unquote isolation, and the real variable was would people listen, and that's where I was always worried. I can put a policy in place and New Yorkers would say that's a lot of crap. You're not going to disrupt my lifestyle. This is all hyper-blown. This is all political nonsense. I communicated the facts so aggressively because when we put the policies in place, Howard, I wanted people to believe them and follow them and New Yorkers are not going to do it just because you tell them to go in your house and close the door and don't come out for a month. Oh, yeah sure. I'm just going to do that because you tell me to. They had to believe it was necessary and the compliance has actually saved lives and changed all those projection models. So communicating to people besides the small percentage that just is defiant or ignorant frankly, it worked. It really did work. People believed and they acted responsibly.
Howard Stern: Are there things you now about this virus that you haven't told the public because we aren't strong enough to handle it? I always had this vision of a government, as governor you know things that I don't know and there is things that maybe you can't talk about. Are there things that we're just not able to handle or is this 100 percent total transparency?
Governor Cuomo: See I know, or I knew, that you were going to think that because that's what I would be thinking if I were you. So one of the reasons every morning, I go out there every morning since this started and I know that you're sitting there thinking that in your head so I go to great pains to say here is every fact I know and here is the worst construction of it, here is the moderate construction, and here is the most acceptable construction, and it's not me, here are all the experts and here are all the opinions, you decide. You know everything that I know. That's important that you have to believe, Howard, that you have all the facts that I have because if you start distrusting ballgame is over. Then when I stand up and I say, okay Howard, you have to agree to social distancing, you are going to say I don't believe you. It's government come down to credibility. It's credibility first and then competence but if you don't have the credibility you don't get the competence. So everything I know I have told the public.
Howard Stern: What is with you and de Blasio in the sense that he is getting under your skin because he made a decision on these schools closing down and you reminded him that as governor of New York you're the only one who can make that decision about schools closing down. Are you frustrated with him or are you guys getting along?
Governor Cuomo: In this situation, President Trump, other people, getting under your skin is a luxury. Emotion is a luxury. Nobody is getting under my skin. I don't operate on that level now. This is about what I have to do for New York, what's the best thing I can do for New York, and whoever can help me do that I will work with, and whoever is contrary to that I will oppose - period. There is no ego in this. We don't have the luxury of ego. I feel, I feel - who cares how I feel? But I can't have things happen that are mistakes, right? There are local officials all throughout the state and every local official has an opinion when the schools should open, when the schools should close, when businesses should open, when businesses should close, and what happened at the beginning of this is all these local officials started to act on their own and some schools were open, some schools were closed, some businesses were open, some businesses were closed. It doesn't work that way, either the policy has to be in place for the whole state, and ideally, by the way, also the surrounding states, because that's where the workforce comes from.
Howard Stern: That's right.
Governor Cuomo: This virus doesn't operate within city boundaries or county boundaries. So, from day one I've been working with New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York all together operating as one. So the entire regional workforce has one set of rules. New York City, you're New York City Mayor or you're the Nassau County Executive, you say, I just want to put a policy in place for Nassau. I say, I know that's nice, but I need a statewide policy and we're working with the other states and we need one policy and not everybody can do their own thing. That's a normal tension, but it is what it is. You can't have this ad hoc disconnected policy, period, just you can't do it.
Howard Stern: See, this is leadership. I want to say to my audience, "This guy gets it." Can't have every nudnik running around who's in office making his own rules.
Robin Quivers: You got to have a leader.
Howard Stern: You got to have a leader and someone's got to lead.
Robin Quivers: One person in charge making that final decision.
Howard Stern: Yes, listen, you're doing it. You're getting it done. You should've run for President.
Robin Quivers: Governor Cuomo, how do you get Congress, you've said there needs to be another stimulus package and all this pork-barrel stuff trying to get something that you want for your state or whatever, can't go on when you're trying to save peoples' lives and support people who can't get to work right now. How do you stop them from doing that?
Governor Cuomo: You have call them out and you have change the political equation, you have change the politics. Right now they do it because it works for them. That's why human beings do most things. They get rewarded for bringing money back to their district. They get rewarded for bringing pork-barrel. As much as people say in the abstract, "oh I don't like it. Except when it is delivered to my door. Then I like it. Then it's not pork, then its nourishment."
Howard Stern: Right.
Governor Cuomo: So, you have to change that equation and they have to be embarrassed that at this time of national need, when government should be at its best and we should stop all the normal BS politics, they're still operating on this tawdry political basis in the face of a national crisis. You have change the equation where they are actually harmed politically by doing the irresponsible and that's why I call them out on it every day.
Howard Stern: Are you the only one who hasn't watched Tiger King because you're so busy that you can't watch Netflix or are you having some time for personal down time with Netflix?
Governor Cuomo: I have watched excerpts of Tiger King because I have my daughters here so I'm still exposed to life.
Howard Stern: I hate that Tiger King.
Robin Quivers: So you do know Johnny Exotic or whatever his name is?
Howard Stern: I got to be honest with you, I hate that show. I'm not interested in those people. Look, is there anything we can help with you - I know you have limited time so I don't want to run out without saying that so you. I don't know what the number one problem is for you right now but is there anything we can help you with?
Governor Cuomo: You know, Howard, your voice, Robin's voice is so important. People, we're fighting a virus, but we're also fighting emotions on an individual level, on a collective level. People are frightened, they're anxious, they're stressed, I mean think about it. It's unprecedented, you're at home, you're trapped, you're afraid to touch another human being, you're not getting a paycheck. The communication is as important as anything else. Yeah, I'm fighting the virus but more I'm fighting stress and anxiety and distrust and depression, so we are going to get through this. That is the god's honest truth. We are going to get through this. We'll get through it in phases and there is no light switch here where you go from darkness to light. Your point, 18 months, yeah I think that's the ultimate trajectory. We will get through it, but it is hard, and acknowledge that it's hard. And I'm scared - I'm scared.
Howard Stern: I'm scared.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah.
Robin Quivers: Don't you tell me you're frightened because you're the only reason I can calm down.
Howard Stern: Don't get sick - if lose you, we're screwed. You worried about civil unrest at all?
Governor Cuomo: No. I'm frightened - let me just clarify that - I'm frightened for my mother, I'm frightened for my brother -
Howard Stern: Right, how is your brother?
Governor Cuomo: Look, first of all, he's 50 years old and he's like Superman.
Howard Stern: But how is he broadcasting through this - it's not, I guess he didn't get hit that heavy, right?
Governor Cuomo: No, he got hit heavy, you want to talk about your guts? I don't want to say this to him. The day he was diagnosed, he went on air that night.
Howard Stern: Jesus.
Governor Cuomo: From his basement.
Howard Stern: I know it's crazy.
Governor Cuomo: That's guts, because when you get this, I don't care how tough you are, but there's a part of you that says, "Maybe I'm the one, I know it's only one in a hundred, but maybe I'm the one in a hundred young person who dies." Son of a gun, you want to talk about that moment that tells us who we are. That day - he went on air. That showed me something, to tell you the truth.
Howard Stern: I'll tell you something - you and your brother. It's turned into a thing. Even my psychiatrist said to me, "God, don't you love when Governor Cuomo and his brother talk - it's just so delightful"
Robin Quivers: It's real.
Howard Stern: Yeah, it's real, it's become a thing that actually calms people down. And you know I never wanted a brother, I didn't want to share my mother with anybody, I barely will talk to my sister. You know what I mean? My sister's great - she doesn't want any attention, I want it all. And I never thought of a brother as being something desirable but you guys got a little chemistry going -
Robin Quivers: You make it look good.
Howard Stern: Yeah it's sweet. It's very sweet.
Governor Cuomo: Well, and it's also 100 percent genuine. I don't even have an alternative. That is how I relate to him, period. And that is how I feel - it's just a pure, genuine, authentic. And he is a funny guy, and we do get into this rhythm. We go right back into childhood.
Howard Stern: But, Governor, and I'm being serious, was he a burden to you in a sense that when your father was Governor, obviously a lot of demands were put on his time. Then to have this brother who in a sense you have to take care of too. Did you ever view him as a burden? That this is someone who this was too much responsibility watching over him?
Governor Cuomo: You know, it's interesting you say that. I don't think it was like a burden, but I did - you're right. First of all, I'm 13 years older than Chris. My father was Governor, I'm 13 years old which means he's 5, I'm eighteen. I could have been his father almost. So my father was very busy. I felt for Chris because he was much younger and on his own. So I was somewhere between a father and a brother role always. And it was a lot at one time.
Howard Stern: What do you mean it was a lot? A lot how?
Governor Cuomo: He was a lot to handle. I was always helping my father. I was his campaign manager. I was working with him in what he was doing and my father was just an obsessive, beautiful, brilliant but 7-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day. Then you had Chris who's sort of left at home and I felt for him and his plight. Balancing all of that was a lot. He's a really special human being.
Howard Stern: Did you resent your father? Governor Cuomo, did you resent your father for not being more of a father to your little brother because you -- Did you ever sit him down and say, "Listen, I feel like I'm taking on too much of a burden here. I'm stepping into your role." Or was that too difficult a conversation to have with him?
Governor Cuomo: I didn't have the conversation with him at that time. I don't think I realized it at that time. Because there was an additional component which is my father had me manage his campaign at like 23-years-old.
Howard Stern: Crazy.
Governor Cuomo: You put me in that position with all that responsibility and it was like life and death with that campaign. You know, you win the campaign you live. You lose you die. That's a lot of pressure for a son. But no, I don't think I realized it at the time. Later in life, I talked to him about it. But it was part of his package, Howard. He was doing God's work and that was 24/7 and everything else was a distant second. That's why he was so good at what he did and he was so authentic and principled and genuine. He did it with every cell in his body because he believed it with every gene in his body. That came first.
Howard Stern: How much pressure is it when you have to run your father's campaign? And when your father doesn't win, all of a sudden then it's your job to pick up your father who must have been a mess over it, right? He probably felt rejected. I would think that that's too much of a burden for a son.
Governor Cuomo: Well my father and I went through a very dark period together. He lost. You know people forget, he lost to George Pataki. He didn't know he was going to lose. He did go through a very dark period. I ran for Governor and I lost and then I went through a divorce. So we were like in a very dark period together for a long time. A long time - like 6 years. That was a very important time for me because you really do learn more from life by getting knocked on your rear end than anything else. The question really does become what happens when you get knocked on your rear end? Do you get up? Do you learn? Or do you just stay down?
Howard Stern: When you say a dark period though, when your father's going through that and you're going through a dark period - how dark does it get? You mean massive depression?
Governor Cuomo: No. No, I mean just dark. It was all retrospective, reflective. Like the two athletes who sit around and watch the game tapes after the game they lost.
Howard Stern: I could have done this, I could have done that. That kind of like eating yourself up? I could have done a better job.
Governor Cuomo: I should have, I should have, I could have. If I had to do it all over there was the mistake. I dropped the ball. But then, I win miraculously and it's like Lazarus, you now get a second chance to do this after having lived through all the negativity, all the retrospection. I'm actually smarter and better prepared to do it. So I would say to my father, who's passed now, but he was alive when I won and alive for many of the first years. I said, "I'm going to correct all the mistakes for both of us."
Howard Stern: Wow.
Governor Cuomo: And the eulogy of my father's administration was great speaker, but didn't get enough things done. That was an ugly review, but it's one that pained him. Together, because he was very much with me at the beginning of my administration also, we were going to fix all of that. We were going to address all the criticism, even if unfair, and learn all the lessons that were fair.
Howard Stern: Yeah, because you know what, you're right. Because it's very interesting, the rabbi in you is, you get stuff done. It's as if you're the complete opposite of what his image was. He was the guy in the ivory tower who could write speeches, the public thought, but you're the guy who can get things done. When you're at those press briefings, people are seeing it and they're loving it.
Robin Quivers: But he's also a great speaker too. So he's in the new and improved.
Howard Stern: You are. You're just unbelievable. You know, look, I don't know what to tell you about what our future is. I don't know a thing. I'm sitting here in my basement doing a broadcast, but I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, I'm thanking God every day for you. I just love what you do.
Robin Quivers: New York. All of New York.
Howard Stern: All of New York. I mean really something. I was going to offer you Robin, as a matter of fact. Who is ready to jump in.
Robin Quivers: Here I am. Sacrificing it.
Howard Stern: You said you wanted the Governor.
Robin Quivers: Well if it's necessary, I will do it.
Howard Stern: When this is over, Governor, this might be your girlfriend, Robin Quivers, right here. I'm not kidding.
Governor Cuomo: Robin, did Howard tell you I was single?
Robin Quivers: No, he didn't. I had to find it out on my own. He was going to offer me up regardless.
Howard Stern: Well are you lonely, Governor? Not having a - let's put it this way, you are single. Are you lonely?
Governor Cuomo: Am I lonely? I'm not. I have my kids with me now, I have a great, great team. I'm too busy to be lonely. But there may come a time.
Howard Stern: Are you on any dating sites where Robin can link up with you? What is your profile on?
Governor Cuomo: Available govs. Look at available govs website.
Howard Stern: Are you on Raya? That's the one where celebrities go to find other celebrities. Listen, Governor, I'm not going to hold you because I've already held you up too long. Again I thank you, I don't know what else to say. I'm so glad I got this opportunity to speak to you. Please take care of yourself and, you know, thank you. That's all I'm going to say. Thank you, that's it.
Governor Cuomo: And I say thank you to you, Howard, and you, Robin. Thank you, thank you for what you do. We need your voices.
Howard Stern: And by the way, again I'm going to point this out, the governor, when times were much simpler, he went ahead and passed that law so that veterinarians cannot declaw cats. You know, in light of what's going on now that might seem trivial, but it was such a wonderful, thoughtful thing to do. I was on the air thanking you and at the time I wanted to speak with you about it. So, thank you for that, too. I won't ask you to make me a promise, but if you ever have the time when this is all over, I would love for you to come in. I would love to know everything about you. I would love to know your dreams as a kid, get into your relationship with your father more. I have a million questions, but I won't burden you now. There's no time for that. I would love to sit down with you and really talk about politics and life because I think it would be just great for my audience to hear.
Governor Cuomo: You intimidate me because you are one of the really great interviewers. You get people to open up and say things. So, I'll take a rain check on that. I'll take the distance of the phone to protect me.
Howard Stern: You like the phone. Are you afraid I'm going to break you down like a prisoner of war and you'll start crying? Have you cried during this crisis?
Governor Cuomo: Yes.
Howard Stern: You have?
Governor Cuomo: Yes.
Howard Stern: At what point?
Governor Cuomo: I can't get over the death numbers every day. I can't. I can't rationalize it. I can say that New Yorkers were heroic, and the healthcare workers have been heroic and have done great work. We saved every life that we could because the healthcare workers were great. I can't get passed the death numbers. There's nothing that abates that pain.
Howard Stern: It's so true. How many phones do you have, by the way? I'm talking about cell phones.
Governor Cuomo: Cell phones I only have one.
Robin Quivers: Why did you ask that question?
Governor Cuomo: I have many people with many phones always all around. Ringing is a constant in my life.
Howard Stern: I could picture the governor with having like seven cell phones. One for like, Trump, if he has to get through.
Robin Quivers: Really? A red phone for every very important person.
Howard Stern: What is the procedure - I have to ask one more question - what is the procedure to call Trump? In other words, do you have a hotline number where you can go right through or do you have to go through all his lackeys?
Governor Cuomo: Howard, it's amazingly simple. And I tell you, he's been amazingly accessible. Either he gets on the phone or he calls me back in ten minutes. They call one number and then he has a person who answers who gets him.
Howard Stern: Good. I like to hear that.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah, it's been great. It's great on that level.
Howard Stern: Are you drinking at all? Do you have booze at night to unwind a little?
Governor Cuomo: No.
Howard Stern: Nothing?
Governor Cuomo: No drinks. Nothing. Not a drop since this started.
Robin Quivers: Wow.
Governor Cuomo: Nothing, not a beer. This is 24 hours a day and I'm not going to be in a compromised position. I'm at the age where you have a couple of glasses of wine you feel it the next day. I'm not going to be diminished now. I wouldn't do that.
Howard Stern: I love that answer.
Robin Quivers: Thank you for your selflessness.
Howard Stern: Robin's hitting the sauce very heavily, but I'm very proud of you.
Robin Quivers: I'm drinking for both of us.
Howard Stern: Are you exercising? Are you doing Peloton? What are you doing?
Governor Cuomo: Whenever I can. I'm old fashioned. I have the weights and the treadmill. I haven't been great at it, because this doesn't stop. You're just too tired to get up and do that. This will ease up, we just have to get passed that initial wave. Once we know we're basically going to be okay, you know, your question of the waves of resolution, then I think it'll change. We just have to get passed that point.
Robin Quivers: Where we're looking now, is the curve flat? Are we going down? Where are we?
Governor Cuomo: It's flat. They call it a plateau. It went up and instead of peaking and going right down it plateaued, so it flattened. But that means 700 people die every day for the past five or six days. New admissions into the hospital are flat, but it's thousands of people coming in every day.
Howard Stern: That's what I mean and then you hear some of these politicians, you know, talking about some people have to die. When it's their mother we'll see if they think it's so funny.
Governor Cuomo: That's right. When they have to make the phone calls that I make every day saying I'm sorry about your father, your brother, your sister, your wife and then put the number 700 next to that. Think that every one is a phone call, every one has a family.
Howard Stern: And this virus is vicious. Some people, they walk right through it, it's no big deal. Other people can't breathe and they die. It's weird. It's not necessarily one age. It's a very vicious thing.
Robin Quivers: Or a condition or anything. You can't call it.
Howard Stern: It's too much. Listen, you've been fabulous. I'll let you go, Governor. Governor Cuomo, one day you have to come in the studio when this is all over. I know you say no, but you're going to do it.
Robin Quivers: You're a brave man. You can get through it.
Governor Cuomo: I'm not that brave, I'm not that brave.
Howard Stern: Thank you so much, Governor.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you, guys.
April 13, 2020.
Governor Cuomo, Governor Murphy, Governor Lamont, Governor Wolf, Governor Carney, Governor Raimondo Announce Multi-State Council to Get People Back to Work and Restore the Economy. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-governor-murphy-governor-lamont-governor-wolf-governor-carney-governor-raimondo
Council Will Include One Health Expert, One Economic Development Expert and Respective Chiefs of Staff from Each State
Council Will Develop a Fully Integrated Regional Framework to Gradually Lift the States' Stay at Home Orders While Minimizing the Risk of Increased Spread of the Virus
New Effort Builds on the States' Ongoing Regional Approach to Combatting COVID-19
Recognizing that their states have one integrated regional economy, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Delaware Governor John Carney and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo today announced the creation of a multi-state council to restore the economy and get people back to work. This announcement builds on the states' ongoing regional approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coordinating group - comprised of one health expert, one economic development expert and the respective Chief of Staff from each state -- will work together to develop a fully integrated regional framework to gradually lift the states' stay at home orders while minimizing the risk of increased spread of the virus.
The council will create this framework using every tool available to accomplish the goal of easing social isolation without triggering renewed spread - including testing, contact tracing, treatment and social distancing - and will rely on the best available scientific, statistical, social and economic information to manage and evaluate those tools.
"We have been collaborating closely with our neighboring states to combat this pandemic through a uniform approach to social distancing and density reduction and it has been working well. Now it is time to start opening the valve slowly and carefully while watching the infection rate meter so we don't trigger a second wave of new infections," Governor Cuomo said. "This is not a light switch that we can just flick on and everything goes back to normal - we have to come up with a smart, consistent strategy to restart the systems we shut down and get people back to work, and to the extent possible we want to do that through a regional approach because we are a regional economy. New York is partnering with these five states to create a multi-state council that will come up with a framework based on science and data to gradually ease the stay at home restrictions and get our economy back up and running."
This is not a light switch that we can just flick on and everything goes back to normal - we have to come up with a smart, consistent strategy to restart the systems we shut down and get people back to work.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor Phil Murphy said, "No one has given more thought or is more eager to restart our economy than I am, but if we don't get the sequencing right, we put more lives at risk. The only path to a sustainable economic recovery is through a strong healthcare recovery. Then, and only then, do we position ourselves to fully ignite our economy and get the residents of our state back to work while minimizing the danger of this disease. A coordinated, regional approach, informed by a multi-state council of experts, will help us avoid a major setback with potentially disastrous consequences. I look forward to the day when the facts on the ground allow us to ease our restrictions and move our regional economy forward."
Governor Ned Lamont said, "One thing that's undeniable is that this virus does not stop at the border of any county, state, or country, but the impact is the same when it comes to our respective economies and healthcare systems. Working as a regional coalition to make the right decisions will lead to the best public health results for all of our residents. We must solve these problems together."
Governor Tom Wolf said, "Our highest priority remains protecting the health and safety of Pennsylvanians. While my administration continues to take critical steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, I also recognize that we must look ahead and take a measured, careful approach to prepare for the future while ensuring that we don't undo all of our efforts. Pennsylvania will work collaboratively with our partners both in state and in surrounding states to develop a comprehensive strategy that first focuses on health but also addresses the need to gradually restore our economy."
Governor John Carney said, "We still have a situation in Delaware that is getting worse. Infections of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are rising. Delawareans should stay home. Don't go out in public unnecessarily. Don't visit Delaware unless you need to see a doctor, or care for a family member. You'll only increase everyone's risk. At the same time, we need to look forward. We need a consistent approach for moving our states out of this crisis, when that day comes. I'm grateful for the partnership of my fellow Governors in the region. They are all working around-the-clock to prevent surges in COVID-19 cases, protect hospital capacity for the most critically-ill patients, and save lives. We'll get through this by working together."
Governor Gina Raimondo said, "States are taking the lead as we fight to slow the spread of coronavirus and save lives. I'm proud of the steps we've taken, and I'm constantly thinking about what it will take to safely reopen our economy. But we know that this virus does not recognize borders, and it's clear we need a strong, coordinated regional approach to avoid a second wave of this disease. I'm grateful to my fellow governors for their leadership during this crisis and I'm confident that this new partnership will support our efforts to get Rhode Islanders -- and all Americans -- back to work safely."
April 13, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo, Governor Murphy, Governor Lamont, Governor Wolf, Governor Carney, Governor Raimondo Announce Multi-State Council to Get People Back to Work and Restore the Economy. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-governor-murphy-governor-lamont-governor-wolf
Council Will Include One Health Expert, One Economic Development Expert and Respective Chiefs of Staff from Each State
Council Will Develop a Fully Integrated Regional Framework to Gradually Lift the States' Stay at Home Orders While Minimizing the Risk of Increased Spread of the Virus
New Effort Builds on the States' Ongoing Regional Approach to Combatting COVID-19
Governor Cuomo: "Everyone is very anxious to get out of the house, get back to work, get the economy moving. Everyone agrees with that. What the art form is going to be here is doing that smartly and doing that productively and doing that in a coordinated way."
Cuomo: "No other state has done it before so it is one step forward after research and consultation with experts. I am not a public health expert but this has to be informed by experts and by data. You take one step forward and you see how it works and then you measure the next step. To the extent we can do that together that is the best course."
Recognizing that their states have one integrated regional economy, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Delaware Governor John Carney and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo earlier today announced the creation of a multi-state council to restore the economy and get people back to work. This announcement builds on the states' ongoing regional approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coordinating group - comprised of one health expert, one economic development expert and the respective Chief of Staff from each state -- will work together to develop a fully integrated regional framework to gradually lift the states' stay at home orders while minimizing the risk of increased spread of the virus.
The council will create this framework using every tool available to accomplish the goal of easing social isolation without triggering renewed spread - including testing, contact tracing, treatment and social distancing - and will rely on the best available scientific, statistical, social and economic information to manage and evaluate those tools.
VIDEO is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of the governors' call is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the governors' conference call is available below:
Governor Cuomo: Hello. So good to see you again. Thank you very much. Good afternoon to everyone. Let me welcome my fellow governors who are on the telephone who you will hear from in a moment. We have Governor Phil Murphy from the great state of New Jersey. We have Governor Ned Lamont from the great state of Connecticut; Governor Tom Wolf from the great state of Pennsylvania; Governor John Carney from the great state of Delaware; and the Governor Gina Raimondo from the great state of Rhode Island.
I want to thank them for their professionalism and hey way they've been handling this situation respectively. I also want to thank them on behalf of the State of New York for their good work in working with us through this very difficult time. Their mutuality and partnership and cooperation has been a great benefit to the state so I want to thank them for that.
I'm going to make some opening comments and then turn it over to Governor Murphy first and then we will hear from the other governors.
Thank you, governors. I just said I thank you all very much for your professionalism and your cooperation and everything you have done that has benefited the alliance with the State of New York and I also want to thank you and congratulate you on what you have done for your states. It's truly been outstanding and it is my honor to be a colleague to you.
We have been talking today about the fact that New York believes we have reached a plateau in the increase in number of cases. They are not going down but they are not going up at the same rate and we believe it is a quote unquote plateau and that is relatively good news in a world of data options. We should start looking forward to reopening, quote unquote, but reopening with a plan and a smart plan because if you do it wrong it can backfire and we have seen that in other places around the globe.
Everyone is very anxious to get out of the house, get back to work, get the economy moving. Everyone agrees with that. What the art form is going to be here is doing that smartly and doing that productively and doing that in a coordinated way, doing that in coordination with the other states that are in the area and doing it as a cooperative effort where we learn from each other and we share information and we share resources and we share intelligence. No one has done this before. No one on this telephone has done it before. No other state has done it before so it is one step forward after research and consultation with experts. I am not a public health expert but this has to be informed by experts and by data. You take one step forward and you see how it works and then you measure the next step.
To the extent we can do that together that is the best course. There is no doubt about that. I do not believe we wind up with a fully common strategy. You have different states in different positions, within this state you have different areas with different circumstances, and the plan has to fit the facts and the circumstances. It is one situation in New York City, different situation in rural counties, different situation in suburban counties. So how do you address those different set of facts? I want to make sure all the people we represent, make sure that we are smart in the way we are doing this. Yes, we've never been here before, but that doesn't mean you can't ensure public confidence that you're doing everything you can to do it in a smart way, an informed way, guided by experts and data and science. Not in a political way. I think working together we can do that. Each state is going to name a public health official for that state, an economic development official for that state. Those officials and the Chief of Staff of the Governor of each state will then form a working group that will start work immediately on designing a re-opening plan. Taking into consideration the public health concerns and issues and the economic reactivation issues and concerns. Study the data, study the research, study the experience of other countries and give us guidelines and parameters to go forward.
Again, we anticipate different facts, different circumstances for different states; different parts of states, but let's be smart and let's be cooperative and let's learn from one another. That is inarguable. With that, let me turn it over to Governor Phil Murphy. Governor Murphy, thank you so much for being with us.
Governor Murphy: Governor Cuomo, thank you for hosting us so graciously and in the category you're known by the company you keep. I'm honored to be with you and Governor Lamont, Governor Wolf, Governor Carney and Governor Raimondo in this discussion and in this initiative. Just as we harmonize as states, New Jersey is the densest state in America and we're in that corridor that is so unique. It was imperative not to just do the things that we needed to do within our four walls as we closed our state down, but to do it in close coordination with New York and Pennsylvania and Delaware and Connecticut especially.
It's that same spirit that we're coming together and acknowledging, whenever it is - by the way, we have not yet plateaued. We're a couple of beats behind New York. Our positive tests have begun to flatten, but we're not yet there. Whenever it is that we determine based on the facts, the data, the science that it is safe for us to responsibly begin the reopening and all the health care infrastructure that goes with that. To do that in coordination seems to be an overwhelmingly prudent approach. We're honored to be very much a part of this group. We do know this, that an economic recovery only occurs on the back of a complete health care recovery and that order is essential. And getting that wrong, transposing those steps or jumping in too early, or maybe jumping in by ourselves.
Governor Cuomo and I have talked about the protocols on one side of the Hudson for a restaurant or bar are different than the other, or similarly -- across the Delaware, you could have inadvertent unintended consequences, which could be grave. So, getting this right, both the timing, the infrastructure, as well as input as Governor Cuomo has said, from both health care experts, as well as economic development experts, in addition to our government colleagues, seems to me and to us to be an incredibly smart way to go. This is the fight of our lives, let there be no doubt about it. We are not out of the woods yet, and reopening ourselves back up will be equally challenging beyond a shadow of a doubt.
So, I'm honored to be with my fellow governors, as I have been every step of the way over the past several months, and look forward to that spirit and coordination going forward. Thanks, Governor Cuomo.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you, thank you very much, governor Murphy. You are right, we started this journey together, we are going to end it together on a positive note. Same with Governor Ned Lamont from the state of Connecticut. Governor Lamont, thank you very much, thank you for being with us.
Governor Lamont: Andrew, thanks for getting us organized and everybody here. I will just pick up where Phil left off. He mentioned the major transportation corridors that interconnect New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as part of a tri-state workforce. And we all slowly closed down methodically parts of our economy in a way that we tried to mitigate the effects of the contagion, and we are going to be thoughtful about how we get this opened as well. But Governor Cuomo, you know all of our pandemic here in Connecticut is all along that I-95 metro-north corridor where we have hundreds of thousands of people going back and forth between New York and Connecticut. It is the commuter corridor for us, but it's also the Covid corridor. Which is why it's so important we work together thoughtfully on this. Listen to the experts as you say and make sure you do not pull the trigger to early. I'm looking over at Japan, and Hong Kong, and Singapore, and those places have unfortunately seen a small resurgence, the second half of the V coming back again. That would be so demoralizing for our economy. So that is why what we do, I want to do on a coordinated basis, have a data base that we share, establish the same protocols, so we know how we are working together to get the information down to Washington so they can coordinate as well. I mean, we are going to be thinking about the mix of PCR, antigens, in probably the low infection areas, in terms of testing, and probably the antibody testing in those areas where it is more prevalent so we can put together a system that allows our people to get back to work. And I couldn't agree with each and every one of you that working together makes the most sense, listening to the experts, doing this methodically, but doing it now. Back to you, Governor Cuomo.
Governor Cuomo: Amen. Thank you very much, Governor Lamont, thank you. Governor Tom Wolf from Pennsylvania. Tom, good to be with you again.
Governor Wolf: Good to be with you, too, Governor Cuomo. Thank you for doing this and thank you to my fellow governors for making this effort possible. You know, we all know that we can do anything better when we work together in this region and we have done good things by working together. We have shared ideas and plans and we have shared in going through this challenge. And this partnership, this council that we are forming here recognizes that simple fact. And I agree with the sentiments of my partners that we need to do this right, and that is what we are trying to do. But this partnership recognizes something else that I think it's really important. It recognizes that we need to come up with a specific and a smart plan for this uncertain future that lies ahead. But it is also that we are creating a plan to let our people, the people that we serve, the citizens of our states, that we indeed do have a future. And this is as important as coming up with the specific elements of this plan. It has to be responsible but it has to show us that we do have a future. As we figure out how we are going to reopen our schools, how we reopen our businesses and our homes, we are also going to recognize that we are trying to figure out how we are going to restore the sense of hope that this pandemic has taken away from so many of us. And I'm proud of the people who are going to be working on this for Pennsylvania, the Secretary of Health, the Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development, and my Chief of Staff. We're all going to do a great job for the people we serve and I think we're going to show the people of the United States how you come out of something as devastating as this in a responsible fashion. Governor Cuomo, thank you again for doing this and back to you.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you, Governor Wolf. Thank you very much. I couldn't agree more with what my colleagues are saying and Governor Wolf's point. We talk about the economic toll, which we can quantify. You can't quantify the emotional toll this is taking on people and I think Governor Wolf is exactly right. Knowing that there's another day, a new day coming—may be different than past days, but it can be a bright day. And that is true and we have to focus on that. Governor Carney, very good to be with you John. Thanks for taking the time and all the help and the coordination. Governor Carney?
Governor Carney: I want to thank my colleagues for this cooperative effort, especially you Governor Cuomo for bringing us together and frankly for your leadership on a day to day basis under very difficult circumstances there in metro New York City and your state, you've provided great leadership there and across the country and we certainly appreciate that. Certainly thanks for including Delaware, we're on the southern end of this region but we're connected importantly by the I-95 corridor and the Amtrak northeast region, so in a very important way we're part of the region, if only a small part. We have seen the connection among our states through this as many of the folks who work in our state live in Governor Wolf's state or across the river in New Jersey and they've obviously had to balance the various provisions and restrictions in each of our states. So this will help us as we think through what it takes to re-enter and get our economies moving again. Frankly it'll really just formalize, for me, what I've already been doing along with Governors Murphy and Wolf in our metro Philadelphia area as we talk on a number of occasions about decisions that we've had to make in terms of shutting down businesses, in terms of business supply chains that are connected among our states. This will formalize that and really put before us all the decisions that we have coming ahead of us, and I think may be even more difficult than decisions on the front end of this in the last month and a half, two months, as we get on the other side of the peak like the greater New York City area is reaching now. How do we open things in a way that's safe? I heard Governor Murphy say yesterday that we need to get the patients healthy before we can get the economy healthy and I think he's exactly right in that and so working together, our economies are connected. Our states are connected in a real way in terms of transportation and visitation and the rest. So our working together, sharing our information and intelligence I think will help each of us make better decisions. So I want to thank all of you for your leadership.
This is a time we're experiencing uncharted waters here and I think ahead of this will be more uncharted waters, but working together we will do a better job for the people that we work for and we'll make smart decisions in re-opening our economy. We're a little bit different down here, a little bit behind I think those of you in northern New Jersey and New York City. Our message here at home is still be safe, stay at home. When you go out, you know, observe appropriate social distancing and we will continue with that message but at the same time think about the timing of re-entry and getting life back to normal again if that ever occurs.
So again, Governor Cuomo, thank you so much for including the first state here in the southern end of this region. We appreciate your leadership in the great state of New York and your leadership with this collaborative task force. I thank you very much.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you. Thank you very much Governor Carney and you're so right. We're all learning. This is new for all of us and it throws out a lot of the old rules and the old ways of doing business and these state boundaries mean very little to this virus. Somebody can get on Amtrak or somebody can get in a car and go up the I-95 corridor and it doesn't matter if they're from Delaware or New Jersey or Connecticut or New York or what state they're from, it can have the same consequence. So we're learning and we're growing every day. Thank you, John. Governor Gina Raimondo from the state of Rhode Island, Governor Raimondo thank you for much for taking the time to be with us. Thank you for working through all these issues with us on behalf of New York. Gina Raimondo.
Governor Raimondo: Good afternoon, can you hear me?
Governor Cuomo: Yes, we can.
Governor Raimondo: Hi, good afternoon, and thank you all. Thank you, Andrew, for leading us and convening this group. I think it's a terrific initiative. Like all of you, all the governors who spoke and all the governors I've been speaking with, I am constantly thinking about what it's going to take to safely reopen our economy. Like you, I don't want to keep people out of work one day longer than necessary. However, we need to do it safely, which means we need a smart, targeted approach to slowly reopen the economy in a way that keeps everybody - most especially the elderly, the vulnerable, and those with preexisting conditions - safe. So, like many of you, I have a team here that I've assembled to develop a plan for what we are calling the new normal. We're looking at everything from how we screen people entering businesses to how we utilize more touchless technology in our day to day interactions. Doing a deep dive industry by industry on new guidelines for this new normal. I'm looking forward to this initiative. I'm looking forward to being a part of the working group and exchanging ideas. Like you have said, none of us has ever gone through this before and I am confident that by working together and sharing our best ideas we will be much more likely to get it right for the citizens of our states and our region.
I will say, throughout the crisis, the governors are the ones who have been showing great leadership and taking action to keep our residents safe. I think it's only appropriate that we do the same thing now by coming together and showing regional leadership to reopen the economy. As everyone has said, I think if you take a coordinated approach on a regional level, we'll be that much more successful.
I know that over the past few weeks I've spoken frequently with the governors on this call, with the governor of Massachusetts, governors all around the country. Our ongoing collaboration idea exchange coordination has certainly enabled all of us to keep people safe in our states.
The reality is this virus doesn't care about state boarders. Our response shouldn't either. So, I am fully in support of this effort and look forward to working with each of you to make sure that we do get to the business of getting folks back to work and we do it in the smartest, safest way possible.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you very much, Gina. Thank you, Governor Raimondo. I couldn't agree more with all of my colleagues and Governor Raimondo's point. None of us have done this before. Sharing information, learning from each other, pooling resources is only smart. We have to be smart. You need the best public health plan and you need the best economic reactivation plan. It's not either or, it has to be both. No one is willing to sacrifice one at the expense of the other and you can't have one at the expense of the other. But how you do it, that's the art form.
April 13, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo, Governor Murphy, Governor Lamont, Governor Wolf, Governor Carney, Governor Raimondo Announce Multi-State Council to Get People Back to Work and Restore the Economy. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-governor-murphy-governor-lamont-governor-wolf
Council Will Include One Health Expert, One Economic Development Expert and Respective Chiefs of Staff from Each State
Council Will Develop a Fully Integrated Regional Framework to Gradually Lift the States' Stay at Home Orders While Minimizing the Risk of Increased Spread of the Virus
New Effort Builds on the States' Ongoing Regional Approach to Combatting COVID-19
Governor Cuomo: "Everyone is very anxious to get out of the house, get back to work, get the economy moving. Everyone agrees with that. What the art form is going to be here is doing that smartly and doing that productively and doing that in a coordinated way."
Cuomo: "No other state has done it before so it is one step forward after research and consultation with experts. I am not a public health expert but this has to be informed by experts and by data. You take one step forward and you see how it works and then you measure the next step. To the extent we can do that together that is the best course."
Recognizing that their states have one integrated regional economy, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Delaware Governor John Carney and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo earlier today announced the creation of a multi-state council to restore the economy and get people back to work. This announcement builds on the states' ongoing regional approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coordinating group - comprised of one health expert, one economic development expert and the respective Chief of Staff from each state -- will work together to develop a fully integrated regional framework to gradually lift the states' stay at home orders while minimizing the risk of increased spread of the virus.
The council will create this framework using every tool available to accomplish the goal of easing social isolation without triggering renewed spread - including testing, contact tracing, treatment and social distancing - and will rely on the best available scientific, statistical, social and economic information to manage and evaluate those tools.
VIDEO is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of the governors' call is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the governors' conference call is available below:
Governor Cuomo: Hello. So good to see you again. Thank you very much. Good afternoon to everyone. Let me welcome my fellow governors who are on the telephone who you will hear from in a moment. We have Governor Phil Murphy from the great state of New Jersey. We have Governor Ned Lamont from the great state of Connecticut; Governor Tom Wolf from the great state of Pennsylvania; Governor John Carney from the great state of Delaware; and the Governor Gina Raimondo from the great state of Rhode Island.
I want to thank them for their professionalism and hey way they've been handling this situation respectively. I also want to thank them on behalf of the State of New York for their good work in working with us through this very difficult time. Their mutuality and partnership and cooperation has been a great benefit to the state so I want to thank them for that.
I'm going to make some opening comments and then turn it over to Governor Murphy first and then we will hear from the other governors.
Thank you, governors. I just said I thank you all very much for your professionalism and your cooperation and everything you have done that has benefited the alliance with the State of New York and I also want to thank you and congratulate you on what you have done for your states. It's truly been outstanding and it is my honor to be a colleague to you.
We have been talking today about the fact that New York believes we have reached a plateau in the increase in number of cases. They are not going down but they are not going up at the same rate and we believe it is a quote unquote plateau and that is relatively good news in a world of data options. We should start looking forward to reopening, quote unquote, but reopening with a plan and a smart plan because if you do it wrong it can backfire and we have seen that in other places around the globe.
Everyone is very anxious to get out of the house, get back to work, get the economy moving. Everyone agrees with that. What the art form is going to be here is doing that smartly and doing that productively and doing that in a coordinated way, doing that in coordination with the other states that are in the area and doing it as a cooperative effort where we learn from each other and we share information and we share resources and we share intelligence. No one has done this before. No one on this telephone has done it before. No other state has done it before so it is one step forward after research and consultation with experts. I am not a public health expert but this has to be informed by experts and by data. You take one step forward and you see how it works and then you measure the next step.
To the extent we can do that together that is the best course. There is no doubt about that. I do not believe we wind up with a fully common strategy. You have different states in different positions, within this state you have different areas with different circumstances, and the plan has to fit the facts and the circumstances. It is one situation in New York City, different situation in rural counties, different situation in suburban counties. So how do you address those different set of facts? I want to make sure all the people we represent, make sure that we are smart in the way we are doing this. Yes, we've never been here before, but that doesn't mean you can't ensure public confidence that you're doing everything you can to do it in a smart way, an informed way, guided by experts and data and science. Not in a political way. I think working together we can do that. Each state is going to name a public health official for that state, an economic development official for that state. Those officials and the Chief of Staff of the Governor of each state will then form a working group that will start work immediately on designing a re-opening plan. Taking into consideration the public health concerns and issues and the economic reactivation issues and concerns. Study the data, study the research, study the experience of other countries and give us guidelines and parameters to go forward.
Again, we anticipate different facts, different circumstances for different states; different parts of states, but let's be smart and let's be cooperative and let's learn from one another. That is inarguable. With that, let me turn it over to Governor Phil Murphy. Governor Murphy, thank you so much for being with us.
Governor Murphy: Governor Cuomo, thank you for hosting us so graciously and in the category you're known by the company you keep. I'm honored to be with you and Governor Lamont, Governor Wolf, Governor Carney and Governor Raimondo in this discussion and in this initiative. Just as we harmonize as states, New Jersey is the densest state in America and we're in that corridor that is so unique. It was imperative not to just do the things that we needed to do within our four walls as we closed our state down, but to do it in close coordination with New York and Pennsylvania and Delaware and Connecticut especially.
It's that same spirit that we're coming together and acknowledging, whenever it is - by the way, we have not yet plateaued. We're a couple of beats behind New York. Our positive tests have begun to flatten, but we're not yet there. Whenever it is that we determine based on the facts, the data, the science that it is safe for us to responsibly begin the reopening and all the health care infrastructure that goes with that. To do that in coordination seems to be an overwhelmingly prudent approach. We're honored to be very much a part of this group. We do know this, that an economic recovery only occurs on the back of a complete health care recovery and that order is essential. And getting that wrong, transposing those steps or jumping in too early, or maybe jumping in by ourselves.
Governor Cuomo and I have talked about the protocols on one side of the Hudson for a restaurant or bar are different than the other, or similarly -- across the Delaware, you could have inadvertent unintended consequences, which could be grave. So, getting this right, both the timing, the infrastructure, as well as input as Governor Cuomo has said, from both health care experts, as well as economic development experts, in addition to our government colleagues, seems to me and to us to be an incredibly smart way to go. This is the fight of our lives, let there be no doubt about it. We are not out of the woods yet, and reopening ourselves back up will be equally challenging beyond a shadow of a doubt.
So, I'm honored to be with my fellow governors, as I have been every step of the way over the past several months, and look forward to that spirit and coordination going forward. Thanks, Governor Cuomo.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you, thank you very much, governor Murphy. You are right, we started this journey together, we are going to end it together on a positive note. Same with Governor Ned Lamont from the state of Connecticut. Governor Lamont, thank you very much, thank you for being with us.
Governor Lamont: Andrew, thanks for getting us organized and everybody here. I will just pick up where Phil left off. He mentioned the major transportation corridors that interconnect New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as part of a tri-state workforce. And we all slowly closed down methodically parts of our economy in a way that we tried to mitigate the effects of the contagion, and we are going to be thoughtful about how we get this opened as well. But Governor Cuomo, you know all of our pandemic here in Connecticut is all along that I-95 metro-north corridor where we have hundreds of thousands of people going back and forth between New York and Connecticut. It is the commuter corridor for us, but it's also the Covid corridor. Which is why it's so important we work together thoughtfully on this. Listen to the experts as you say and make sure you do not pull the trigger to early. I'm looking over at Japan, and Hong Kong, and Singapore, and those places have unfortunately seen a small resurgence, the second half of the V coming back again. That would be so demoralizing for our economy. So that is why what we do, I want to do on a coordinated basis, have a data base that we share, establish the same protocols, so we know how we are working together to get the information down to Washington so they can coordinate as well. I mean, we are going to be thinking about the mix of PCR, antigens, in probably the low infection areas, in terms of testing, and probably the antibody testing in those areas where it is more prevalent so we can put together a system that allows our people to get back to work. And I couldn't agree with each and every one of you that working together makes the most sense, listening to the experts, doing this methodically, but doing it now. Back to you, Governor Cuomo.
Governor Cuomo: Amen. Thank you very much, Governor Lamont, thank you. Governor Tom Wolf from Pennsylvania. Tom, good to be with you again.
Governor Wolf: Good to be with you, too, Governor Cuomo. Thank you for doing this and thank you to my fellow governors for making this effort possible. You know, we all know that we can do anything better when we work together in this region and we have done good things by working together. We have shared ideas and plans and we have shared in going through this challenge. And this partnership, this council that we are forming here recognizes that simple fact. And I agree with the sentiments of my partners that we need to do this right, and that is what we are trying to do. But this partnership recognizes something else that I think it's really important. It recognizes that we need to come up with a specific and a smart plan for this uncertain future that lies ahead. But it is also that we are creating a plan to let our people, the people that we serve, the citizens of our states, that we indeed do have a future. And this is as important as coming up with the specific elements of this plan. It has to be responsible but it has to show us that we do have a future. As we figure out how we are going to reopen our schools, how we reopen our businesses and our homes, we are also going to recognize that we are trying to figure out how we are going to restore the sense of hope that this pandemic has taken away from so many of us. And I'm proud of the people who are going to be working on this for Pennsylvania, the Secretary of Health, the Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development, and my Chief of Staff. We're all going to do a great job for the people we serve and I think we're going to show the people of the United States how you come out of something as devastating as this in a responsible fashion. Governor Cuomo, thank you again for doing this and back to you.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you, Governor Wolf. Thank you very much. I couldn't agree more with what my colleagues are saying and Governor Wolf's point. We talk about the economic toll, which we can quantify. You can't quantify the emotional toll this is taking on people and I think Governor Wolf is exactly right. Knowing that there's another day, a new day coming—may be different than past days, but it can be a bright day. And that is true and we have to focus on that. Governor Carney, very good to be with you John. Thanks for taking the time and all the help and the coordination. Governor Carney?
Governor Carney: I want to thank my colleagues for this cooperative effort, especially you Governor Cuomo for bringing us together and frankly for your leadership on a day to day basis under very difficult circumstances there in metro New York City and your state, you've provided great leadership there and across the country and we certainly appreciate that. Certainly thanks for including Delaware, we're on the southern end of this region but we're connected importantly by the I-95 corridor and the Amtrak northeast region, so in a very important way we're part of the region, if only a small part. We have seen the connection among our states through this as many of the folks who work in our state live in Governor Wolf's state or across the river in New Jersey and they've obviously had to balance the various provisions and restrictions in each of our states. So this will help us as we think through what it takes to re-enter and get our economies moving again. Frankly it'll really just formalize, for me, what I've already been doing along with Governors Murphy and Wolf in our metro Philadelphia area as we talk on a number of occasions about decisions that we've had to make in terms of shutting down businesses, in terms of business supply chains that are connected among our states. This will formalize that and really put before us all the decisions that we have coming ahead of us, and I think may be even more difficult than decisions on the front end of this in the last month and a half, two months, as we get on the other side of the peak like the greater New York City area is reaching now. How do we open things in a way that's safe? I heard Governor Murphy say yesterday that we need to get the patients healthy before we can get the economy healthy and I think he's exactly right in that and so working together, our economies are connected. Our states are connected in a real way in terms of transportation and visitation and the rest. So our working together, sharing our information and intelligence I think will help each of us make better decisions. So I want to thank all of you for your leadership.
This is a time we're experiencing uncharted waters here and I think ahead of this will be more uncharted waters, but working together we will do a better job for the people that we work for and we'll make smart decisions in re-opening our economy. We're a little bit different down here, a little bit behind I think those of you in northern New Jersey and New York City. Our message here at home is still be safe, stay at home. When you go out, you know, observe appropriate social distancing and we will continue with that message but at the same time think about the timing of re-entry and getting life back to normal again if that ever occurs.
So again, Governor Cuomo, thank you so much for including the first state here in the southern end of this region. We appreciate your leadership in the great state of New York and your leadership with this collaborative task force. I thank you very much.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you. Thank you very much Governor Carney and you're so right. We're all learning. This is new for all of us and it throws out a lot of the old rules and the old ways of doing business and these state boundaries mean very little to this virus. Somebody can get on Amtrak or somebody can get in a car and go up the I-95 corridor and it doesn't matter if they're from Delaware or New Jersey or Connecticut or New York or what state they're from, it can have the same consequence. So we're learning and we're growing every day. Thank you, John. Governor Gina Raimondo from the state of Rhode Island, Governor Raimondo thank you for much for taking the time to be with us. Thank you for working through all these issues with us on behalf of New York. Gina Raimondo.
Governor Raimondo: Good afternoon, can you hear me?
Governor Cuomo: Yes, we can.
Governor Raimondo: Hi, good afternoon, and thank you all. Thank you, Andrew, for leading us and convening this group. I think it's a terrific initiative. Like all of you, all the governors who spoke and all the governors I've been speaking with, I am constantly thinking about what it's going to take to safely reopen our economy. Like you, I don't want to keep people out of work one day longer than necessary. However, we need to do it safely, which means we need a smart, targeted approach to slowly reopen the economy in a way that keeps everybody - most especially the elderly, the vulnerable, and those with preexisting conditions - safe. So, like many of you, I have a team here that I've assembled to develop a plan for what we are calling the new normal. We're looking at everything from how we screen people entering businesses to how we utilize more touchless technology in our day to day interactions. Doing a deep dive industry by industry on new guidelines for this new normal. I'm looking forward to this initiative. I'm looking forward to being a part of the working group and exchanging ideas. Like you have said, none of us has ever gone through this before and I am confident that by working together and sharing our best ideas we will be much more likely to get it right for the citizens of our states and our region.
I will say, throughout the crisis, the governors are the ones who have been showing great leadership and taking action to keep our residents safe. I think it's only appropriate that we do the same thing now by coming together and showing regional leadership to reopen the economy. As everyone has said, I think if you take a coordinated approach on a regional level, we'll be that much more successful.
I know that over the past few weeks I've spoken frequently with the governors on this call, with the governor of Massachusetts, governors all around the country. Our ongoing collaboration idea exchange coordination has certainly enabled all of us to keep people safe in our states.
The reality is this virus doesn't care about state boarders. Our response shouldn't either. So, I am fully in support of this effort and look forward to working with each of you to make sure that we do get to the business of getting folks back to work and we do it in the smartest, safest way possible.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you very much, Gina. Thank you, Governor Raimondo. I couldn't agree more with all of my colleagues and Governor Raimondo's point. None of us have done this before. Sharing information, learning from each other, pooling resources is only smart. We have to be smart. You need the best public health plan and you need the best economic reactivation plan. It's not either or, it has to be both. No one is willing to sacrifice one at the expense of the other and you can't have one at the expense of the other. But how you do it, that's the art form.
April 13, 2020.
Massachusetts Joins New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island's Multi-State Council to Get People Back to Work and Restore the Economy. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/massachusetts-joins-new-york-new-jersey-connecticut-pennsylvania-delaware-and-rhode-islands
Council Will Include One Health Expert, One Economic Development Expert and Respective Chiefs of Staff from Each State
Council Will Develop a Fully Integrated Regional Framework to Gradually Lift the States' Stay at Home Orders While Minimizing the Risk of Increased Spread of the Virus
New Effort Builds on the States' Ongoing Regional Approach to Combatting COVID-19
Recognizing that their states have one integrated regional economy, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Delaware Governor John Carney and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo today announced Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is joining the multi-state council to restore the economy and get people back to work. This announcement builds on the states' ongoing regional approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coordinating group - comprised of one health expert, one economic development expert and the respective Chief of Staff from each state -- will work together to develop a fully integrated regional framework to gradually lift the states' stay at home orders while minimizing the risk of increased spread of the virus.
The council will create this framework using every tool available to accomplish the goal of easing social isolation without triggering renewed spread - including testing, contact tracing, treatment and social distancing - and will rely on the best available scientific, statistical, social and economic information to manage and evaluate those tools.
"We have been collaborating closely with our neighboring states to combat this pandemic through a uniform approach to social distancing and density reduction and it has been working well. Now it is time to start opening the valve slowly and carefully while watching the infection rate meter so we don't trigger a second wave of new infections," Governor Cuomo said. "This is not a light switch that we can just flick on and everything goes back to normal - we have to come up with a smart, consistent strategy to restart the systems we shut down and get people back to work, and to the extent possible we want to do that through a regional approach because we are a regional economy. New York is partnering with these five states to create a multi-state council that will come up with a framework based on science and data to gradually ease the stay at home restrictions and get our economy back up and running."
Governor Phil Murphy said, "No one has given more thought or is more eager to restart our economy than I am, but if we don't get the sequencing right, we put more lives at risk. The only path to a sustainable economic recovery is through a strong healthcare recovery. Then, and only then, do we position ourselves to fully ignite our economy and get the residents of our state back to work while minimizing the danger of this disease. A coordinated, regional approach, informed by a multi-state council of experts, will help us avoid a major setback with potentially disastrous consequences. I look forward to the day when the facts on the ground allow us to ease our restrictions and move our regional economy forward."
Governor Ned Lamont said, "One thing that's undeniable is that this virus does not stop at the border of any county, state, or country, but the impact is the same when it comes to our respective economies and healthcare systems. Working as a regional coalition to make the right decisions will lead to the best public health results for all of our residents. We must solve these problems together."
Governor Tom Wolf said, "Our highest priority remains protecting the health and safety of Pennsylvanians. While my administration continues to take critical steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, I also recognize that we must look ahead and take a measured, careful approach to prepare for the future while ensuring that we don't undo all of our efforts. Pennsylvania will work collaboratively with our partners both in state and in surrounding states to develop a comprehensive strategy that first focuses on health but also addresses the need to gradually restore our economy."
Governor John Carney said, "We still have a situation in Delaware that is getting worse. Infections of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are rising. Delawareans should stay home. Don't go out in public unnecessarily. Don't visit Delaware unless you need to see a doctor, or care for a family member. You'll only increase everyone's risk. At the same time, we need to look forward. We need a consistent approach for moving our states out of this crisis, when that day comes. I'm grateful for the partnership of my fellow Governors in the region. They are all working around-the-clock to prevent surges in COVID-19 cases, protect hospital capacity for the most critically-ill patients, and save lives. We'll get through this by working together."
Governor Gina Raimondo said, "States are taking the lead as we fight to slow the spread of coronavirus and save lives. I'm proud of the steps we've taken, and I'm constantly thinking about what it will take to safely reopen our economy. But we know that this virus does not recognize borders, and it's clear we need a strong, coordinated regional approach to avoid a second wave of this disease. I'm grateful to my fellow governors for their leadership during this crisis and I'm confident that this new partnership will support our efforts to get Rhode Islanders -- and all Americans -- back to work safely."
Governor Charlie Baker said, "The Baker-Polito Administration looks forward to participating in discussions with neighboring states and experts regarding the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Massachusetts also remains focused on efforts to expand testing, ensure hospital capacity and provide the necessary PPE to those on the front lines to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities."
April 13, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Holds a Briefing on New York's COVID-19 Response. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-holds-briefing-new-yorks-covid-19-response
Governor Cuomo: "So what do we do? First, come up with a reopening plan. I'm not interested in political opinions. I'm interested in what the experts say about this. To the best they can tell you, but, you have public health experts. They can study South Korea. They can study China. They can study all the data that we have. You have economic experts that can help you decide what is the next notch of essential workers that can actually start the economy back up and have a consequential change. But that is a real plan, and that has to be developed, and that has to be smart. The why did the geographic area for that plan the better? Because this virus doesn't understand governmental boundaries."
Governor Cuomo: "I believe the worst is over if we continue to be smart. And I believe we can now start on the path to normalcy, and we can have a plan where you start to see some businesses reopening, understanding the delicate balance. And then you'll get to a point where they announce we have a proven vaccine. That's when it's over. That's really when it's over. They have a vaccine, it's been tested, it's been proven, they can produce it, you're going to get a vaccine, this is the thing of the past, don't worry about it, close the chapter, move on. Okay, when do we get there? Twelve months to 18 months."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo held a briefing on New York's continued response to COVID-19 in New York State.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. What day is today? It's a day that ends in "y," that's what day it is. It's Monday. Hope you enjoyed the best you could this different weekend. Different Easter celebration for those who celebrated Easter and Passover. Everybody knows who's here. Doctors to my right, Dr. Jim Malatras, Dr. Howard Zucker. To my left, Secretary to the Governor, Melissa DeRosa and Budget Director Robert Mujica.
Let's give you some facts. Plain truth facts. Here's the good news: The curve continues to flatten. We've talked all along quote, unquote the experts said there were two possibilities. You could have a high point and an immediate drop off or you could have a plateau. It appears that we have a plateau. It's flattening, it's the flattening of the curve. The increase has slowed down. It flattens out for a period of time. Nobody knows how long because no one has been here before. If you look at the number of total admissions, 18,000, 18,000, 18,000 - that's definitely a flattening. That is good news. Still going up a little bit, by the way, but a basic flattening as opposed to increasing gaps.
The total number of hospitalizations net down, a little bit up, a little bit down. Overall, just follow the line, don't get caught up in the day-to-day. As we say, the three-day rolling average, which is more accurate than any one-day is down again. The net change in ICU admissions is down. Again, I discount these ICU admissions because the old demarcation of an ICU bed in the hospital and a regular bed in a hospital is gone. Almost every bed is an ICU bed. Net change in ICU admissions is also down.
Intubations is real. Intubations is the worst signal. People who are intubated wind up on a ventilator, most often do not come off the ventilator. Some are 70 percent, 80 percent depending on who you talk to. This is a scary number. When that's down, it's good and that is down. The three-day rolling average is down. So that's good news. We were worried about the spread from New York City to suburbs upstate and we have been very aggressive when we get a little cluster spot that's acting up. We jump on it. This is like watching a fire going through dry grass with a strong wind and it's blowing the fire and a couple of embers wind up on one side of the field. The embers start to catch fire and that's a cluster and you have to run over to those embers and stamp them out right away before they grow. You see the stabilization there. That has been good too.
This is a new take on it, we talk about net hospitalizations. This is the number of new COVID hospitalizations to-date. This is how many new COVID diagnosis or people walking into the hospital had COVID. So you see still about 2,000 people per day are walking in or being diagnosed with COVID. You're still increasing the hospital population. Initially, by 2,000 people who are testing positive for COVID, but on the other side of the health care system, people are being discharged on the other end.
The net is what we talk about because we've always been worried about lack of capacity in the hospital system where you pour the water into the glass and the glass overfills. Where the hospital system can't handle the number of people coming in. That's why we've been studying the net. This says, take a deep breath. You still have 2,000 people per day who are coming in to the hospital system.
The terrible news is as terrible as it gets and the worst news I've had to deliver to the State as Governor of New York and the worst news I've had to live with on a personal level. Number of deaths is 671. Not as a bad as it has been in the past, but basically flat and basically flat at a horrific level of pain and grief and sorrow. This is 671 people who passed away on Easter Sunday. For me - I'm Catholic - Easter Sunday is the high holy day in many ways, one of the high holy days, and to have this happen over this weekend is really, really especially tragic and they are all in our thoughts and prayers.
That raises the death total to 10,056. Again, for perspective, 10,000, 2,700 lives were lost in 9/11 and 9/11 changed every New Yorker who was in a position to appreciate on that day what happened. The number of lives lost was horrific after 9/11 and the grief was horrific. We are at 10,000 deaths. New York, 10,000 deaths, New Jersey, 2,000 deaths, Massachusetts, 756, and then you have the state of Michigan.
Why New York? Why are we seeing this level of infection? Well, why cities across the country? It's very simple. It's about density. It's about the number of people in a small geographic location allowing that virus to spread and that virus is very good what it does. It is a killer. It is very good at spreading. It is very contagious and the dense environments are its feeding grounds. We learned that lesson very early on. Remember, we had one of the first hot spots in the nation. One of the most intense clusters was New Rochelle, New York. New Rochelle is in Westchester County. It's not in New York City. Why New Rochelle? That's what I was so concerned about early on. We didn't know what we were looking at. Why New Rochelle, because in New Rochelle one person or two people who were infected were in dense gatherings with hundreds of people and it spread like wildfire.
So it's not just a dense city or a dense community. It's any person in a dense environment. You can be in a very rural county. You know, people think New York is all New York City. No, no. We have counties that have more cows than people by population. You can be anywhere. If you have one person who is infected in a room of 200 people, 300 people, 400 people, now you have a problem.
This goes back to the Spanish flu where some cities canceled parades. Other cities didn't cancel parades. We went through these numbers when we had the decision on St. Patrick's Day parade, which Bernadette still will not forgive me for, but you can have a parade in a relatively small city but you bring people together and this virus has a feeding frenzy.
Where do we go from here? Question of reopening which everyone wants to do and everybody wants to do yesterday. I am at the top of that list. We have to understand on the reopening, as much as we have this emotion, we want it to happen and we want it to happen now and we can't take this anymore and everyone feels the same. It is a delicate balance. Remember what we have to do on reopening. And remember, it has never been done before. None of this has been done before. Anyone who says to you, oh, I know what we should do. I know. Yeah, you don't know because nobody knows and that's the one thing that we have learned over and over again. And this place has never done this before. Also, you look around the world, you see warning signs from countries who have opened.
My point is to our team, I want to learn from those other countries frankly and I want to make sure we know from our studying and assessment of what's going on in other countries what worked, what didn't work, and let's learn from those lessons. You can now go back and look at Wuhan province and look at Italy and look at South Korea and see what they did and see what worked and what didn't work so let's learn. So we'll listen to the experts, we'll follow the data. But remember this is a delicate balance. What are we doing on reopening? We are easing isolation. We want to increase economic activity. That will happen essentially through a recalibration of what are essential workers.
Remember, we never turned off the economy. The economy is still functioning. You can get in your car, you can get gasoline, you can go to the grocery store, you can shop, youcan get on a bus. The economy is functioning. We never turned it off. We turned it way, way down, and it's just the essential services that have been operating, but the essential services have all been operating. What you will be doing in essence on the reopening is recalibrating what is essential. You'll start to open that valve on the economic activity. And you'll turn that valve very slowly, reopening the economy, more essential workers, do it carefully, do it slowly, and do it intelligently. More testing and more precautions at the same time that you're opening that valve. More testing so you have more information about who should be coming in, et cetera. More precautions because you know that works. As you're calibrating and opening the valve.
And while you're opening that valve, watch the meter. What's the meter? The meter is the infection rate. The meter is those daily hospitalization rates. And there is a cause and effect. You have density, you have more people infecting other people, you will see it within a matter of days in that hospitalization rate. So yes, open the valve. Slowly, advised by experts. Keep your eye on the meter. The meter is the infection rate. And watch that infection rate. And if you see that infection rate start ticking up, which would be undermining everything we have accomplished thus far, then you know you've opened the valve too fast. That is the delicate balance that we have to work through. And that is what has never been done before. And nobody can tell you today, I know how to do that, because it just hasn't happened.
So what do we do? First, come up with a reopening plan. I'm not interested in political opinions. I'm interested in what the experts say about this. To the best they can tell you, but, you have public health experts. They can study South Korea. They can study China. They can study all the data that we have. You have economic experts that can help you decide what is the next notch of essential workers that can actually start the economy back up and have a consequential change. But that is a real plan, and that has to be developed, and that has to be smart. The why did the geographic area for that plan the better? Because this virus doesn't understand governmental boundaries.
Well, I'm Westchester County, so this virus has to stop before entering here and follow my rules. No. The virus follows its own boundaries and its own guidelines and it doesn't have any. The geographic area that is an economic area, a workforce area, a transportation area, that's the relevant area that we have to be looking at. You have to coordinate all these systems. You can't start one system without starting the other systems. You can't start the economic system without starting the transportation system. And if you can't run the transportation system, then you can't reopen the economy, just doesn't happen. You have to coordinate the schools with the transportation with the economic system. These systems work in coordination. They're big gears and each gear intermeshes with the other gear. And you can't start one gear with the other gear stopped, right? That's the coordination.
You're going to need federal support, and you're going to need smart legislation passed by the federal government that actually attends to the need, as opposed to normal political considerations.
Testing is going to be key. That's a new frontier for us, also. This state is probably the most aggressive state in the nation in actually getting the testing up. We test more than any other state. We test more than other countries. We test more than the other leading states combined in testing. But, that's still not enough. We have to do more.
We know that the precautions work. The masks work, the gloves work, the temperature taking works. It's abnormal, it's different, but it works, and we have to do it. While we're doing this, we have to remember to stay the course and not jeopardize what we have achieved - and we have achieved much.
This afternoon I'll be joined by other governors. We've been talking to other states - Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island - for the past couple of days about how we come up with a reopening plan and can we work together on a reopening plan. We'll be making an announcement this afternoon with other governors about just that, the reopening plan.
As I said, the optimum is to have as coordinated a regional plan as you can. I understand intergovernmental coordination can be somewhat of an oxymoron, but to the extent we can work with Connecticut and New Jersey and Rhode Island and Delaware and Pennsylvania, I want to. It is smarter for everyone. For people of their state and for the people of my state. This is a time for smart, competent, effective government. Nothing else matters. I want to make sure that I can say to the people of this state, we did everything we could to the best of our ability and the optimum is a geographically coordinated plan. I don't believe we could ever get to totally coordination with the other states because all those states have little different set of circumstances and facts - I don't even believe we should have a uniform plan without recognizing the state by state distinctions. But, to the extent we can coordinate, we should and we will.
Last point, and this is a personal point, when is it over? I have this conversation a hundred times a day. I had it last night with my daughters. When is it over? It's a difficult conversation because people want it to be over so badly, right? I want the fear to stop, I want the anxiety to stop. I don't want to have to worry about my brother anymore. I don't want to have to worry about my daughters. I don't want to have to worry about my mother. I want it over. I want to get out of the house. I want to get back to normalcy. I've been living in this weird, disorienting, frightening place. I'm afraid to touch people. This violates the human behavior and needs. When is it over? It's not going to be over like that. It's not going to be we flick a switch and everybody comes out of their house and gets in their car and waves and hugs each other and the economy all starts up. I would love to say that's going to happen. It's not going to happen that way. It can't happen that way. Can it happen in some communities across the country, where frankly, they have very low infection rates and they could come up with a testing regime where if they find one or two cases they quickly jump on those one or two and they isolate and they track? Yes. But is that going to happen here? No. Is that going to happen in any community that has a significant issue? No. There is going to be no epiphany. There is going to be no morning where the headline says, "Hallelujah, it's over." That's not going to happen.
What will happen, is there'll be points of resolution over time. What does that mean? There'll be points of resolution. There'll be points where we can say we've accomplished something, we should feel better, we should feel more calm, we should feel more relaxed. It will be incremental. We're controlling the spread. We are controlling the spread. You look at those numbers, you know what it says, we're controlling the spread.
I was afraid that it was going to infect my family no matter what I did. We're past that. If you isolate, if you take the precautions, your family won't get infected. We can control the spread. Feel good about that. Because, by the way, we could have gotten to the point where we said, we can't control this damn thing. We can't control it. It's in the air. It gets into your house. It doesn't matter. You close the door, it comes under the door. You could have gotten there. We're not there. Those numbers say we can control the spread. Feel good about that.
The worst is over. Yeah, if we continue to be smart going forward because, remember, we have the hand on that valve. You turn that valve too fast, you'll see that number jump right back. But, yes, I think you can say the worst is over because the worst here are people dying. That's the worst. The worst doesn't get any bad than this worst. And this worst is people dying. That's the worst.
And Winston Churchill, I mentioned the other day, the end of the beginning. Yes, we can control the spread, and we can reduce the number of people who die and our health care system can do phenomenal work and rise to the occasion and deal with this beast. It has not overwhelmed the health care system, we have controlled the spread and there's confidence to be taken in that. And that's an accomplishment. And it was a heck of an accomplishment. Those health care workers for the rest of my life I will say nothing but thank you to them. And I was not sure we could keep the tide from overwhelming our hospital capacity and they did. Feel good about that.
I believe the worst is over if we continue to be smart. And I believe we can now start on the path to normalcy, and we can have a plan where you start to see some businesses reopening, understanding the delicate balance. I think there will become a point where there's an announcement that we have a medical treatment that you can get sick, but they found an anti-viral medication that can help you treat the disease. So, take another deep breath when we get to that point because, okay, you get infected but there is a drug regimen that can help you. And then you'll get to a point where they announce we have a proven vaccine. That's when it's over. That's really when it's over. They have a vaccine, it's been tested, it's been proven, they can produce it, you're going to get a vaccine, this is the thing of the past, don't worry about it, close the chapter, move on.
Okay, when do we get there? Twelve months to 18 months. I can't believe you said 12 months to 18 months, as Cara said to me. Its 12 months to 18 months. When Dr. Faucisaid how long until a vaccine, he says 12 months to 18 months. When the FDA is asked, how long until you get a vaccine? They say 12 months to 18 months. That's the point - - when you ask me when can I do a deep breath for the first time in five weeks? When they say we have a vaccine. That's when it is over. But, there will be points between now and then when we should feel more confident and we should feel better.
"Well, I want it to be over tomorrow." I get it. I want it to be over tomorrow. I want it to be over tomorrow more than you want it over tomorrow. But that's not reality, so let's calibrate our expectations. In the meantime, stay the course because we have accomplished a lot through heroic efforts of health care workers, police officers, transportation workers who showed up to drive those trains and buses every day. I mean, people just doing extraordinary, brave, generous, courageous things every day. Literally putting their lives at risk for the public. And we have flattened that curve by people's actions, which remember is why those projection models were all wrong. The projection models were high, they weren't wrong. That's a bad word. What they were saying, this is where the infection will go if unabated. What's the question mark on whether or not you can abate it? Can you put forth a government policy, but more, will people listen to the government policy?
You have 19 million people in New York. I can stand up here all day long and say you must social distance, you must stay home. If New Yorkers don't believe it, if Americans don't believe it, if they question their government, if I don't have credibility, why do I stand here and go through all the facts? I am not asking any New Yorker to take my word for anything. I'm not asking any American, take my word for it. Here are the facts. I'll give you the facts. The good facts, the bad facts, the ugly facts, you get all the facts. You tell me, you decide. They decided on the facts they would comply and they've done things I would have never dreamed that they would do. And they've actually made significant progress. Do not reverse the progress that we have made in our zeal to reopen and get back to normal. That's going to be the challenge going forward. But we'll do it because we are New York tough and tough is not just tough. We know what tough is. But tough is also smart and tough is also united and smart -- tough is also disciplined and tough, most importantly, is loving. While that sounds counterintuitive. They sound repugnant. No, no, no, no. Toughest people are strong enough to say love, the toughest people and that's New Yorkers.
April 13, 2020.
Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on CNN's Out Front with Erin Burnett. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/audio-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-guest-cnns-out-front-erin-burnett
Governor Cuomo: "[F]rankly, if we had a clearer national direction earlier on, we probably would have had a more orderly shutdown. No, even in a federal emergency it doesn't abrogate the Constitution. That's what you would have to say here. The Constitution of the United States goes out the window because we have a federal emergency. That is not the law of the land. Period."
Earlier tonight, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was a guest on CNN's Out Front With Erin Burnett to discuss New York's ongoing effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
AUDIO of the Governor's interview is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available:
Erin Burnett: We do now have calling in now the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, and I wanted to give you a chance, Governor, to respond. I saw your press conference today with several other governors as you're trying to coordinate your plan for reopening and dealing with the coronavirus. Don't know if you just heard everything the President said but there were a couple of moments when he took this on. He specifically said the President of the United States calls the shots and he has total authority to decide over New York or any other state. Do you agree?
Governor Cuomo: Well, I don't agree, Erin. Thank you for having me, by the way. I don't agree with the President's legal analysis. The President doesn't have total authority. We have a Constitution. We don't have a king. We have an elected President. That's what our founding fathers did when they wrote the Constitution and the Constitution clearly says the powers that are not specifically listed for the federal government are reserve to the states and the balance between federal and state authority was central to the Constitution. It's one of the great balances of power and the Constitution has served his nation very well for a long time. Again, they didn't want a king. Otherwise we would have had King George Washington. We didn't. We had President George Washington elected by the people.
Having said that, the President also said that the CDC was going to issue guidelines. Now guidelines are not mandates. Guidelines are what they did on closing down the economy. Remember the federal government did not close down the economy. The President's right. He did a travel ban with China. That was not closing down the economy. Closing down the economy is what the states did at different times in different ways. The CDC issued guidelines. Most states well beyond the CDC guidelines and guidelines are just guidelines. Guidelines are do this if you like. But it's not a coordinated, national approach and it's clearly not the federal government enacting it.
So either you're doing a federal takeover or you're doing guidelines which the states can follow if they want to follow. He seems to be saying both so I don't really know.
Erin Burnett: So when the Vice President said, because they asked him do you believe this holds up constitutionally, the President's point, that he and only he can call the shots for the states, Pence said that, yes, he believes that's true because of this national emergency declaration situation we're under. Does that hold any water with you, Governor Cuomo?
Governor Cuomo: Legally, no. You don't become king because there's a national emergency. Now, you could argue that a federal government has enhanced power because of a federal emergency, but again, Erin, that's not what they did. The tough decisions were the closing down of the economy. The sort of reopening is more of an artful, science-based process. But the closing down, which is where the President could have exercised this theory of total control, he didn't do it. He left it all to the states and we had this whole hodgepodge of actions over a period of time. I think, frankly, if we had a clearer national direction earlier on, we probably would have had a more orderly shutdown. No, even in a federal emergency it doesn't abrogate the Constitution. That's what you would have to say here. The Constitution of the United States goes out the window because we have a federal emergency. That is not the law of the land. Period.
Erin Burnett: What are you prepared to do if he comes out with - and he refused to give a date today - but a much more aggressive opening? I know today during your press conference you laid out for example, how you wanted to work with nearby states. Well if one wants to open the bars and the other doesn't, you were going to work together. But if the President of the United States comes out and lays out a plan that you think is not responsible and not right for New York, would you tell New Yorkers to ignore what he is saying and overrule it and say listen to me as a governor this is what we will do?
Governor Cuomo: If they came out with this hypothetical, if the President came out with a plan that I believed was irresponsible and could jeopardize the public health of the people of the State of New York, I would oppose it legally. Period. The coalition we put together is not all Democrats. I know the Washington way is to quietly --
Erin Burnett: Yeah he just said that.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah that's not true. The State of Massachusetts, last time I checked, they have a great governor in Massachusetts, Governor Baker, who happens to be a Republican. It's not a partisan, it's not politics. We all stayed away from that. The President should stay away from that. Don't start that divisiveness with the partisanship. That would do himself a disservice. He likes to say, "I worked with Democratic governors, Republican governors." Even his own video, it said bi-partisan Democrat, Republican. Keep it there. Don't get partisan.
The governors would like nothing more than an engaged federal government where we know what the federal government does and what the states do. By the way, the federal government has to do it's role too. On this issue of testing, I'm telling you that's going to become a major issue. The state's do not have the capacity to do large scale tests. You can't get large scale diagnostic tests and that's going to be a key to any reopening plan.
Erin Burnett: So he also said that he sent the ship here to New York Harbor and he said that he did everything you wanted with Javits Center, but the reason that he was bringing those things up was to show that he worked with you, giving you what you wanted, but you didn't need it. His words, I believe, are "The Javits Center is empty." Now that's not obviously quite true, but what's your response to him on that. It's pretty clear he's saying you ask for things you do not need.
Governor Cuomo: Look, facts matter, okay? I don't even think the president should be defensive on this. The truth is the CDC's original estimate was in the millions of people infected, the CDC. That's him. The White House Coronavirus Task Force said in the millions of people. That's him. That did not come to be. But as a governor you prepare for the worst, hope for the best. If you read the CDC guidelines, if you read the white house coronavirus task force in the state of New York you could need over 100,000 beds. Those were also the projections of the organization funded by Gates and Cornell University and Columbia University and McKinsey. They were all projecting in the State of New York up to 140,000 beds needed. We only have 50,000 beds. So, yes, to prepare for the numbers that both the federal government and the experts said it could be, we needed additional beds. And the President is also right that the army corps of engineers did a great job inbuilding emergency facilities, and I did call him and ask him for expedited assistance with the army corps of engineers, and he did provide it. He shouldn't be defensive about that. And the government initiatives and policies did reduce the number of people infected, caveat, so far. We just have to make sure we don't go backwards. So, he's right there, and he did work cooperatively with this state and other states, and that's why I don't understand why you would pivot at this point to this aggressive, hostile suggestion of a total authority of the federal government and abandon the partnership cooperation he started by praising.
Erin Burnett: Governor Cuomo, I appreciate your time. Good to talk to you again.
Governor Cuomo: Thanks for having me, Erin.
April 14, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Holds a Briefing on New York's COVID-19 Response. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-holds-briefing-new-yorks-covid-19-response-0
Governor Cuomo: "This is going to take us working together. ... Just because those numbers are flattening, it's no time to relax. We're not out of the woods. In this reopening, we could lose all the progress we made in one week if we do it wrong. We have a number of challenges ahead. We have to figure out how to do this."
Cuomo: "Everybody's anxious to reopen. ... People need to get back to work. ... The worst scenario would be if we did all of this, we got that number down, everybody went to extraordinary means and then we go to reopen and we reopen too fast or we reopen and there's unanticipated consequences and we see that number go up again."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo held a briefing on New York's continued response to COVID-19 in New York State.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Day 44 but who's counting. Every day is Groundhog Day. Thank you for being here.
To give you some facts about where we are today, total hospitalizations actually basically flat, technically a tick down, which is probably the first tick down so that's a good sign but basically flat so we thing we're at the apex on the plateau. The number of hospitalizations went up, flattened, continuing to flatten, good sign. Technically the number is down a tad, statistically irrelevant, but better than being up.
The net change in total hospitalizations, if you look at the curve, which is what we look at, the curve is down. If we do a three-day average, which is more accurate than any one day, because remember this reporting mechanism is new, we just put it in during this situation so I wouldn't bet all the chips on any one day, but when you look at three days, you look at the overall curve, we think it's indicative, so the three-day average is down.
The net change in ICU admissions is down. Again the ICU admissions I take with a grain of salt, since hospitals are no longer what they were and they're basically all ICU wards. Intubations is a real number. That's the number of people who are being put on a ventilator. About 80 percent of those people will never come off a ventilator. So when you see the intubations that is proportionate to the number of people we will lose. That's what we've been watching all along. People going to the hospital, most get treated and are discharged. Some are not discharged. If they're intubated about 80% of the people who are intubated will not come off the ventilator. The number of new people going into the hospital per day is also down, but we still have 1,600 new COVID cases yesterday so we have 1600 people new coming into the hospital, some being discharged. The net is what we've been watching, but it's also interesting to note that you still have 1,600 new people walking into the hospital or who are in a hospital and then diagnosed with COVID so the volume is still high and the hospitals have still been working hard.
We've been watching for growth outside of New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Rockland. That's been basically been flat. There have been little hot spots here and there. The Department of Health has been very good and aggressive in jumping on those hot spots and tamping them down, test, isolate, trace. You can see the numbers by region across the state, proportionately obviously downstate, New York, which is what we've been talking about, but looking for growth towards Long Island, Westchester, Rockland. The rest of the state proportionately upstate is very, very low to everything else in the state.
This is something else we are watching - this is the number of deaths in nursing homes and the nursing homes have been an increasing issue. The nursing home issue was flagged by the first cases we had in the State of Washington because that is the vulnerable population in the vulnerable place and we've been worrying about nursing homes from day one, as we saw in the State of Washington. But you see the percentage of loss of life is getting higher in the nursing homes compared to the hospitals.
Lives lost yesterday, 778. That number is up. To me that's the most painful number and it has been the most painful number every day, and those New Yorkers are in our thoughts and prayers. You look at the past few days and the number of lives lost, it's basically flat at a devastating level of pain and grief but evidence is, everything else we're seeing is basically a flattening at this level.
The statisticians will say number of lives lost is a lagging indicator, which is a nice scientific term, but it doesn't mean it's not just terrible, terrible, terrible news. Nothing we can do about it. Although, many New Yorkers are doing everything they can to save peoples lives on a daily basis at a great personal cost to themselves.
Total number of deaths is 10,834. What we have learned through this process is that our actions determine our destiny and that's actually good news. We changed the curve. Every projection model, White House, CDC, coronavirus White House task force, Columbia, Cornell, Gates funded group - every projection had a higher rate of infection, higher rate of death. CDC was talking about over a million people. CDC was talking about projections that would have swamped the nation's hospital system. That didn't happen. Why didn't it happen? Because of what we did. That's important to remember and realize. We changed the curve. Better way to say it is we are changing the curve every day. We have shown that we control the virus, the virus doesn't control us. This is a big deal. We could have been in a place where we couldn't stop the spread of the virus. We could have done this whole lockdown, close down, shutdown and you still could have seen those numbers going up. That would have been a frightening place.
We should take some comfort in the fact that we have demonstrated that we can actually control the spread of the virus. Tremendous, dramatic pain to do it, shut down everything but thank God we can control the spread. Can you imagine how bad a situation it would be if we did all of this and you still saw those numbers going up. You lock up with your family, you protect them, but somehow the virus still infiltrated the house. That would have been frightening. So there is good news in this.
There's also a caution flag. We are, in some ways artificially, controlling that curve. We've taken all these extraordinary actions and we are reducing the rate of infection. That means whatever we do today will determine the infection rate tomorrow. It is total cause and effect. You stop doing what you are doing or you behave differently and you will get a different result. That's important to remember as we talk about reopening.
Everybody's anxious to reopen. I get it, I'm anxious to reopen. Cara and Michaela are anxious to get out of the house. Trust me, they love me, they love spending time with me, but they're sort of done with the entire experience. That's universal. People need to get back to work. The state needs an economy. We cannot sustain this for a prolonged period of time. Everybody agrees. Everybody will also say how you reopen is everything because of the first point which is we are now keeping down that rate of infection. If you start acting differently you will see a corresponding increase in that rate of infection. The worst scenario would be if we did all of this, we got that number down, everybody went to extraordinary means and then we go to reopen and we reopen too fast or we reopen and there's unanticipated consequences and we see that number go up again.
Well, you're being hyper cautious. Oh really? Go look at other countries that went through exactly this, started to reopen and then they saw the infection rate go back up again. So let's at least learn from past mistakes. We've laid out a way to reopen, coming up with a comprehensive plan first that is regional in nature. We have seven states that we're working with. The virus doesn't understand state boundaries. Doesn't understand that it needs a passport, you know, it defies all of our norms. So how do you put the best minds together in a seven-state area, come up with a regional strategy? Because the virus can get on Amtrak, the virus can get on a plane, the virus can get in a car and drive up 95. We're all connected. And in truth, since nobody knows where they're going, and nobody's done this before, let's think together, and let's plan together.
If we can't come up with a common plan, let's see if we can come up with a plan that's not contradictory, let's see if we can get to a place where what Connecticut does, New Jersey does is not counter to what we're doing here in New York. And that's the point of the seven states working together. Also the point is it also doesn't work unless you coordinate the reactivation of all the systems. I did this graphic because no one got when I went like this yesterday, and I said the gears have to mesh, this is what I was saying. I could see, Nick, you did not get what this meant, so that's a clarifier for you personally, from yesterday.
We also have to be clear on who is responsible for each element of the opening. The president said last night that he has total authority for determining how and way states reopen. That is not an accurate statement, in my opinion. Now that we know that government actually matters, and government is relevant, and that government has to be smart, because what government does is determining how this goes. It's literally determining in many ways life and death. We have to be smart about it.
The federal-state relationship is central to our democracy. This has been a topic discussed since our founding fathers first decided to embark on this entire venture, right. This is basic federalism, the role of the states and the role of the federal government. And it is important that we get this right. Our founding fathers understood, and we have to remember today that the balance between the state and the federal, that magnificent balance that is articulated in the constitution is the essence of our democracy. We don't have a king in this country. We didn't want a king. So we have a constitution and we elect a president. The states, the colonies, formed the federal government. The federal government did not form the states. It's the colonies that ceded certain responsibility to a federal government. All other power remains with the states, it's basic to our constitution and that federal-state relationship.
Hamilton, who in many ways was representative of this discussion of the balance of power. State governments possess inherent advantages which will ever give them an influence and ascendancy, ascendancy, a beautiful word, over the national government and will forever preclude the possibility of federal encroachments on the states, that their liberties indeed can be subverted by the federal head is repugnant is repugnant to every rule of political calculation. Strong language, but that was the permits. So, there are laws, and there are facts even in this wild political environment.
What do we do? We do what we do because we are New York tough, but tough is more complex than many people think it is. Within that word tough is smart, and united, and disciplined, and loving. They are not inconsistent, to be tough and to be loving. Let me make a personal point, not necessarily a factual point. President did his briefing last night, and the president was clearly unhappy. The president did a number of tweets this morning that he's clearly unhappy. Did a tweet about mutiny on the bounty and governors are mutineers. I didn't follow the exact meaning of the tweet, but the basic essence of the tweet was the he was not happy with governors and this was a mutiny. The president is clearly spoiling for a fight on this issue. The worst thing we can do in all of this is start with political division and start with partisanship. The best thing we have done throughout this past 44 days is we've worked together, and we haven't raised political flags. Even in this hyper-partisan environment, even though it's an election year, even though the politics is so intense, we said, "not here, not in this." This is too important for anyone to play politics. It was a no politics zone, right? This just about doing the right thing, working together, and that's important and we have to stay there. We're all in a little bit of a reflective mood. I'm in a reflective mood. Everything we do here is so important. Every day is so important.
I was thinking after the President made his comments and looking at some of the remarks and looking at the tweets, reminded me of a poster I saw when I was in grade school. Saint Gerard Majella, Queens, New York, Catholic school - red blazer, gray pants, white shirt, little clip on tie - remember the tie with the hook? Remember the hook tie that you had to put the hook on, and then it looked like you had a real tie, which I never understood. The hook was harder to do, you had to hook, then you had to adjust the band, which was harder than just teaching the kid how to just tie the tie, would've been easier, but. I was in grade school and there was that poster, that came from a Sandburg poem, I think. "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came," and I was looking at the poster and I didn't really get it, because even then I was very literal. "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came." So, I'm looking at the poster and a priest came up behind me and said, "What's wrong, Andrew?" I said, "I don't understand that. Suppose they gave a war and nobody came. How could that happen? Then you wouldn't have a war." He said, "Well, that's the point. The point is, what would happen if people just refused to engage? They just refused to fight." I still didn't get it, because and he said, "You know, sometimes it's better to walk away from a fight than engage it. Sometimes it takes more strength, frankly, to walk away from a fight than engage it."
The President will have no fight with me. I will not engage in it, I've sat here every day for 44 years asking New Yorkers to remember that this is not about me, it's about we. I understand you're personally inconvenienced. I understand you're frustrated, and stressed, and anxious, and you're feeling pain. Think about we. Think about -- get past yourself and think about society, and think about your family and think about interconnection and act responsibly for everyone else. This is no time for politics, and it is no time to fight. I put my hand out in total partnership and cooperation with the President. If he wants a fight he's not going to get it from me. Period.
This is going to take us working together. We have a real challenge ahead. Just because those numbers are flattening, it's no time to relax. We're not out of the woods. In this reopening, we could lose all the progress we made in one week if we do it wrong. We have a number of challenges ahead. We have to figure out how to do this. How do you have a public health strategy that works with an economic reactivation strategy? Nobody has done this before. How do you start to increase the number of essential workers? How do you learn the lessons of the past? How do you start to do the massive testing that we're going to do have to do here? And that we don't have the capacity to do today? The capacity does not exist.
The private sector companies that do testing, we can only get about 60,000 tests per month. That's not enough. We're going to do the antibody testing, but that's not enough, either. How do we do this? Put together this whole testing system and do it in a matter of weeks? It is a real question. How do we use technology? Apple and other companies are working on using technology to do tracking. How do we do that? How do we do it fast? How do we take all our strength and our collective strength and take this nation's collective strength and figure out how to do those challenges?
50 years ago this week, Apollo 13 gets damaged 220,000 miles from earth. Somehow they figure out how to get a spaceship back 220,000 miles 50 years ago. That's America. Okay. Figure out how to do testing. Figure out how to use technology to do tracing. That's what we have to work on. We have to do that together. We have to do as a government what our people have done, right? Sometimes political leaders can learn best from following people who are normally ahead of the politicians.
Look at how people have been selfless and put their own agenda aside for the common good. Can't their leaders be as smart as they are? The answer has to be yes. So, I look forward to working with the president in partnership and cooperation, but he has no fight here. I won't let it happen. Look, unless he suggested that we do something that would be reckless and endanger the health or welfare of the people of the state, then I would have no choice. But shy of that, I put my hand out to say let's do this together.
April 14, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Requiring All People in New York to Wear Masks or Face Coverings in Public. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-issues-executive-order-requiring-all-people-new
State Will Begin Conducting Antibody Tests Prioritizing Frontline Workers Beginning This Week -2,000 Tests Per Day Using a Finger Prick Test
Announces State Will Give 100 Ventilators to Michigan and 50 Ventilators to Maryland
Issues Executive Order Requiring Nursing Homes to Inform Family Members of Residents of COVID-19 Cases
Issues Executive Order Allowing Individuals Assisting with COVID-19 Response to Stay in a Hotel in New York City for More Than 28 Days without Becoming a Tenant
SUNY and CUNY Colleges Using 3D Printers to Produce Personal Protective Equipment for Frontline Medical Workers
Confirms 11,571 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 213,779; New Cases in 43 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced he will issue an Executive Order requiring all people in New York to wear a mask or a face covering when out in public and in situations where social distancing cannot be maintained, such as on public transportation. The Executive Order will go into effect on Friday, April 17th.
Governor Cuomo also announced the state will begin conducting antibody tests, prioritizing frontline health care workers, first responders and other essential workers, beginning this week. Using a new finger prick method the state will test up to 2,000 New Yorkers per day. The state is also asking the FDA for expedited approval of a finger prick antibody test that could test up to 100,000 New Yorkers a day. Additionally, the state is continuing to engage with other partners including hospital labs and private companies to bring mass antibody testing to scale statewide.
The Governor also announced the state will give 100 ventilators to Michigan and 50 ventilators to Maryland.
The Governor will also issue an Executive Order requiring nursing homes to report positive COVID-19 cases and deaths to the families of those who are living in the nursing home facility within 24 hours. The order will include adult home and other assisted living facilities. Previously, State Department of Health issued guidance asking these facilities to communicate this information to families; this new order makes that guidance mandatory.
The Governor will also issue an Executive Order allowing individuals assisting with the COVID-19 response or individuals who have been displaced due to COVID-19 to stay in a hotel in New York City for more than 28 days without becoming a tenant.
Another part of getting to the new normal is continuing to stop the spread of the virus, and to do that I am issuing an Executive Order that says all people in public must wear a mask or face covering.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
The Governor also announced that the State University of New York and The City University of New York are using 3D printers to produce critical personal protective equipment for New York's frontline health workers. SUNY campuses are producing about 2,100 face shields a day amongst 13 SUNY campuses, its four Cornell colleges, and its four university centers. Teams at six CUNY colleges have adapted their 3D printers and associated materials to make elements that are used in protective face shields for local hospitals. The face shields are being donated to medical teams across the state, as resources are needed by hospitals, nursing homes and testing sites.
"As we continue to flatten the curve and slow the infection rate of the virus we have to build a bridge from where we are now to the reopening of the economy, and the single best tool to do that is large scale testing," Governor Cuomo said. "We have done more tests than any other state in the nation - more than 500,000 in over a one-month period - but we need to do more and we need the help of the federal government to get people back to work and begin our return to a new normal. We are going to begin conducting antibody testing for our frontline workers and we are currently able to test 2,000 people per day, and we are asking the FDA for approval of a finger prick test that would allow us to test 100,000 people per day. Another part of getting to the new normal is continuing to stop the spread of the virus, and to do that I am issuing an Executive Order that says all people in public must wear a mask or face covering."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 11,571 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 213,779 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 213,779 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
548
13
Allegany
28
0
Broome
153
7
Cattaraugus
32
0
Cayuga
36
3
Chautauqua
24
1
Chemung
69
5
Chenango
71
3
Clinton
45
0
Columbia
96
12
Cortland
23
1
Delaware
46
1
Dutchess
2,048
114
Erie
1,751
83
Essex
12
0
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
24
2
Genesee
76
0
Greene
73
7
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
40
1
Jefferson
47
0
Lewis
7
0
Livingston
31
0
Madison
105
1
Monroe
884
34
Montgomery
32
0
Nassau
26,715
1,465
Niagara
204
7
NYC
118,302
7,837
Oneida
246
17
Onondaga
449
18
Ontario
62
1
Orange
5,716
138
Orleans
33
2
Oswego
42
1
Otsego
44
0
Putnam
571
13
Rensselaer
124
4
Rockland
8,474
139
Saratoga
227
3
Schenectady
237
2
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
6
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
92
0
Steuben
151
4
Suffolk
23,278
816
Sullivan
424
9
Tioga
25
1
Tompkins
115
3
Ulster
733
43
Warren
77
0
Washington
42
2
Wayne
48
0
Westchester
20,947
756
Wyoming
34
2
Yates
6
0
April 15, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Requiring All People in New York to Wear Masks or Face Coverings in Public. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-issues-1
State Will Begin Conducting Antibody Tests Prioritizing Frontline Workers Beginning This Week -2,000 Tests Per Day Using a Finger Prick Test
Announces State Will Give 100 Ventilators to Michigan and 50 Ventilators to Maryland
Issues Executive Order Requiring Nursing Homes to Inform Family Members of Residents of COVID-19 Cases
Issues Executive Order Allowing Individuals Assisting with COVID-19 Response to Stay in a Hotel in New York City for More Than 28 Days without Becoming a Tenant
SUNY and CUNY Colleges Using 3D Printers to Produce Personal Protective Equipment for Frontline Medical Workers
Confirms 11,571 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 213,779; New Cases in 43 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "It's going to be a phased reopening, right. And during the phased reopening, the priority is make sure you do no harm and keep your eye on the public health issue. That is what is key in all of this. So it's going to be a calibration of reopening based on public health safety and that infection rate because what we have done, and the reducing of the infection rate, is a pure function of what New Yorkers have done and what people across the country have done. When you relax that social distancing, you could very well see an increase in the infection rate. So it's all a calibration to the public health. But it's going to be a gradual increasing of economic activity in calibration with the public health, public health standards. The single best tool to doing this gauging, right, is large-scale testing. Test, trace and isolate."
"Don't tell me that we can't do it because I know that we can do itCan we build a bridge that takes us from today to 18 months? Yes. Yes, because we are bridge builders, that's what we do. We build bridges. Sometimes literally, sometimes symbolically, sometimes metaphorically, but we build bridgesThat's what we do in New York and we're going to do this."
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced he will issue an Executive Order requiring all people in New York to wear a mask or a face covering when out in public and in situations where social distancing cannot be maintained, such as on public transportation. The Executive Order will go into effect on Friday, April 17th.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good afternoon. Bigger group than usual. More the merrier. Thank you very much for being here. We'll give you some updated information and then we'll go from there.
On this format of the presentation, I throw out my own personal bias to the way we do this. If you haven't noticed, I have an annoying personal habit that my children remind me of often. My staff too, they reminded me this morning. People love to give you their opinion of what they think, "I think this, I think this," and I often will stop them and say, "Ok, before you tell me what you think just tell me the facts." Just give me the facts first before your interpretation of the facts. I like to start with just the facts, just give me the facts. That's what we do in this presentation: here are the facts. No opinion. No filter. Then I'll give you an opinion, but I'll tell you what's my opinion versus the facts. Just the facts. It is an annoying personal habit because people want to tell you their opinion. I think this. I know, but tell me the facts first, then we'll do your opinion.
Total hospitalizations clicked down, still in the 18,000, but it clicked down. Good news. That's a fact. That's a fact that it's good news, not my opinion. You see the flattening of the curve - all these new expressions that we've never used before - plateau, flattening, rounding. Net change in hospitalizations, down. That's good news. Three-day rolling average, because remember any one of these days of reporting, this is a new reporting system. It's imprecise. I wouldn't bet the farm on any one days number, but a three-day average starts to be a little more accurate. ICU admissions is down, that's good news. Intubations are down, that's very good news. Just on a real life level. When a person is intubated, they're on a ventilator. Eighty percent of the people will never come off the ventilator or thereabouts, so that's good news.
Little reality check, you still have on a day-to-day basis, about 2,000 people who are being diagnosed with COVID. We're out of the woods? No. We're still in the woods. The good news is we showed them we can change the curve. Good news is, great news in my opinion, we can control the spread. That is great news. Could you imagine if we couldn't control the spread? If we did all this and the spread kept going up? So we can control the spread. You still have about 2,000 people a day who are new diagnosis coming into the hospital system. It's still a serious public health issue.
Lives lost yesterday, 752, which is the painful news of our reality day after day and they are in our thoughts and prayers. You see 707 in hospitals, 45 in nursing homes. People are interested in those numbers and how those numbers are changing. You see the terrible news has basically been flat over the past several of days. Again, the number of death is a quote, unquote lagging indicator. It's almost disrespectful to put it in scientific terms, but these are people who were probably intubated. They were on a ventilator and then again, the period of time you're on a ventilator, normally has a bad outcome.
The total losses, the total number of deaths number. The CDC changed guidelines on how they want information reported. They want deaths and then another category of probable deaths which is a new category that's done by the local departments of health or the coroner. We're going to rationalize those new reporting requirements with local governments and get that information out as soon as we can. We're also, since we have a little bit of period to take a breath, we're going to contact nursing homes and facilities to find out if there were other people who passed from COVID who were not necessarily in a hospital or in a nursing home. There is a sense that there may be additional people who passed away and they weren't included in the count because they weren't in a hospital or weren't in a nursing home. So we'll be going through that.
Basically, the health care situation has stabilized. The fears of overwhelming the health care system has not happened, thanks to the phenomenal front line workers. Thanks to all the additional capacity that the hospital system created. Over 50 percent additional capacity in one month. Just think of that. Thanks to the work that our federal government did, Army Corps of Engineers, providing the beds at Javits and Comfort.
By the way, Javits, which is 2,500-bed capacity is the overflow valve, about 800 people have gone through Javits. So thank you very much. And that was a great service that was done by the federal government in a very short period of time. So we have that stabilized. People are still getting infected but we have the infection spread down to a manageable number. We've accomplished that. People are restless.
We have to talk about the reopening of the economy, how do we do this? We have to build a bridge from where we are to the reopening of the economy. Well, what does that look like? Let's say that where we're going, it's not a reopening in that we're going to open what was, we're going to a different place. And we should go to a different place. And we should go to a better place. If we don't learn the lessons from this situation, then all of this will have been in vain. We learn a lot if we're willing to open our eyes and open our ears. So we're going to a different place, which is a new normal, and we talk about the new normal, we've been talking about the new normal for years. We're going to have a new normal in public health. By the way, the way we have a new normal in the environment, a new normal in economics, a new normal in civil rights, a new normal in social justice, right. This is the way of the world now. We're moving to a new place, more challenging place, but also potentially a better place.
Well, when is this over? I say, personal opinion, it's over when we have a vaccine. It's over when people know I'm 100 percent safe and I don't have to worry about this. When does that happen? When we have a vaccine. When do we have a vaccine? 12 to 18 months. Who determines that? The federal government has to test the vaccine, FDA. It's a big gap, 12 to 18 months, yes. I say the sooner the better, anything we can do to work with the federal government to get the vaccine done faster, we are all in. You want to use New York State as a laboratory? We are ready, willing and able. Any way the state Department of Health can work with the FDA to reduce that testing period? We are all in and energized and creative and ambitious about it. And so anything we can do to accelerate that vaccine, we will do. You need a place to test it in large numbers, think of New York. But that's the ultimate end, right? We have a vaccine. Now we don't have to worry about this. By the way, we'll probably have to worry about the next public health risk at that time, so don't forget everything we learned.
Besides the vaccine, there's a possibility that they develop a medical treatment. So we can't prevent you from getting the virus, but, we have a new medical treatment and if you get the virus, don't worry, it's no big deal, you go and you get this medical treatment. That's another way of having a natural end, right? And that's what convalescent plasma is all about and the antibody testing to find people who had the antibody and then injecting the antibody into a person as a treatment method. Maybe the hydroxychloroquine works. Now, this has been a very politicized topic. I have done my best to stay 100 miles away from politics in all of this. Everybody wants to see hydroxychloroquine work. Everybody. Well, the president says he believes it works. But he's not a doctor. You're right. He believes, says he believes it works but he's not a doctor. Find out. Find out. And everyone hopes that it works. And anything New York can do to test it, we will. We are now testing hydroxychloroquine.
There are a number of hospitals that are doing it. It's not a government decision. It's not a political decision. A medical doctor decides. And if a medical doctor decides it works, fine. We have an executive order that limits the prescription of hydroxychloroquine only because we don't have enough. And there was such a demand on it that people who needed it and were using it can't get it. So, if the federal government sends us more, we will dispense more. It's a pure supply side issue. Or maybe they develop another drug that they figure out has an effect. That could happen between now and the vaccine. And we all pray that it does. But until you have the vaccine, until you have the medical treatment, what do you do? How are you building the bridge?
Well, it's going to be a phased reopening, right. And during the phased reopening, the priority is make sure you do no harm and keep your eye on the public health issue. That is what is key in all of this. So it's going to be a calibration of reopening based on public health safety and that infection rate because what we have done, and the reducing of the infection rate, is a pure function of what New Yorkers have done and what people across the country have done. When you relax that social distancing, you could very well see an increase in the infection rate. So it's all a calibration to the public health. But it's going to be a gradual increasing of economic activity in calibration with the public health, public health standards. The single best tool to doing this gauging, right, is large-scale testing. Test, trace and isolate. Just what everybody is talking about. What does this mean? It means you test, find a positive, trace back who they were with, where they were, test those people and you isolate the people who are positive. It's inarguable, it's just very, very hard to do and it opens this new world of testing and this new world of testing is a new world to all of us, by the way.
This diagnostic testing, are you positive or negative? There is then testing for antibodies, were you exposed? If I find out that you were already exposed and had the virus, now you can go back to work because you had the virus, you have antibodies. Antibody testing, once you have the antibodies, you can help develop convalescent plasma where they can take your blood, take those the antibodies and use it as treatment.
There's saliva testing which is faster and easier. It's not blood testing. It's not a swab. It's just saliva. But that's a new form of testing that's just been developed. This finger prick testing which is less invasive but also being developed. There's full-blood sampling testing which is obviously more intrusive.
But to do the testing, you need testing equipment. You need swabs. You need vials and you need all of these things at a capacity that does not now exist. Where do you do the testing? We've been doing the testing in hospitals. Frankly, that's not a great place to do testing. You don't want people walking into a hospital emergency room who may be positive for COVID. Our drive-through locations are better.
But how do you bring that to scale? And then even if you have the equipment and the testing site and the personnel to do the testing, where do you get the labs to test all of these tests? This is a whole world of questions that nobody has ever seen before. The bottom line is, well, you need large-scale testing. Let's do it.
We can't do it yet. That is the unvarnished truth. I know, because New York has been doing this since this started, exploring this new world. We have done more tests than any other state. We've done over 500,000 tests which is more than the other states that are near us combined. Okay? So, we've been very aggressive here. But in all this time, we've only done 500,000 tests. Now that's a large number of tests, yes. But this is over a one-month period and even 500,000 tests, you're talking about a state with 19 million people. So you get a sense of the scale of what we have to do here.
We cannot do it without federal support and I've been saying this for days. If you have a state that has a lower need, yes. They may be able to do it. But when you have a state that has to do a large number of these tests, I'm telling you, we can't do it without federal support and I've said that to day one.
We will coordinate and we have been coordinating all of the tests in our state. That's how we got to that 500,000 number, more aggressive than I think anyone else. We have 228 private laboratories in this state. We will coordinate with them. We'll make sure that we're not competing with ourselves, because there are a lot of groups that are now testing.
New York State Department of Health developed their own antibody test and that test is going to be very important and It's in our control because we'll actually do those tests. We don't need a private lab. We don't need anyone else. With those tests, it will go to about 2,000 per day capacity and that is a finger prick test so it's not terribly invasive. Even I can endure the pain of that one.
We've asked the FDA to approve a state test that could get us to 100,000 people per day. To give you an idea, that's then 500,000 a week, if you don't work the weekends, I don't know if you do and I don't want to raise something I don't know about, but 500,000 a week, we've only been 500,000 to date, right? So you get a sense of how powerful that would be if the FDA approves that.
We're going to prioritize the antibody testing for first responders and essential workers and this is important. We've all been saying thank you to the health care workers and that's nice but I've been talking to George Gresham through this. He's the head of 1199 which represents many health care workers. His point has always been gratitude is appreciated but we need support. The health care workers need the support. They need the PPE equipment and they need the tests to make sure they're not getting infected and if they are infected what is the status. He's been exactly right - more than thank you, actions more than words.
Nurses, the same thing, NYSNA, they've been doing phenomenal work. They need support, they need the equipment, they need time off, they need to recuperate. And the first responders, the NYPD. Pat Lynch, who represents the NYPD, has said to me from day one, my guys need support, "guys" being gender neutral. They're out there every day, they live in the downstate area and they work in the downstate area. Many work—live in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, and they're working in New York City. They need not only PPE equipment, et cetera, they need testing. They need to know if they've been infected for themselves. And also, they could wind up being spreaders if we don't know. And Pat Lynch and the NYPD have been extraordinary here. Okay, make them a priority for the testing that we can do and we can control, and that's the antibody testing. And we will.
So, the more testing, the more open the economy. But, there's not enough national capacity to do this. I've been speaking to governors across the country. Every governor is now in the same situation. I was speaking with Governor Pritzker of Illinois, he has some companies that do this testing in his state. But everyone is in the same position. And we have to be clear on this, who does what, between the federal government and the state government. The states cannot develop national testing. There's no simple answer to it. It's basically controlled by private sector companies who have been doing it at a reduced volume. Because that was the world. You didn't need such a high level of tests. So the private sector companies only developed to the capacity that the market demanded.
This is an entirely new market and then when you talk to the private sector companies, which I have, they'll say, I can't increase my volume. I can't get enough swabs, I can't get enough vials, I don't have enough machinery to manufacture it or test it. They need chemical agents that are part of the test. Many of these chemical agents aren't even manufactured in the United States. So there's an international supply chain. All this to say, it is very hard to bring this to scale quickly and we need the federal government to be part of this.
Testing capacity, to me, is like what ventilators were over the past month. All of a sudden because of this virus and the respiratory attack, we need massive numbers of ventilators. I never heard about ventilators before this. I now know more than I ever wanted to know about ventilators. But it came out of the blue, they're very hard to manufacture. There's a whole supply chain, they're a sophisticated piece of equipment and you just—it's very hard to get them manufactured quickly. No one is to blame on ventilators. No one is to blame on testing. I know we're in a political world. Well, who's to blame, who's to blame? Sometimes there's nobody to blame, you know? On this testing situation, there's nobody to blame. Just how do we now do it? How do you now scale this up and scale it up quickly, because we want to phase the reopening as fast as we can between now and a medical treatment and a vaccine, right? That's what we're doing.
I do know this, it's along the lesson of ventilators. The answer on testing is not what happened on ventilators, which is 50 states competing against each other to buy testing capacity from these private sector companies and the federal government, which is also buying testing capacity, competing against the 50 states. That is not learning the lesson of what we did before. So partnership with the federal government, 100 percent. But we need that partnership to do this. Once you test, then you have to trace the contacts. So we test Bernadette, Bernadette turns up positive. Okay, who were you with over the past week? What family members were you with? Who do you sit next to in the office? You now have a list of 30 people. If it's Bernadette, even more, because she's highly social, has a lot of friends. Now somebody's got to run down that list of 30 people. From one positive. It's a detective, investigator in the public health space. That is a massive undertaking. It's intelligent, but it's massive. And that is an army of tracers.
So testing, have to get that up to scale. And then tracing, yes, but that's a massive undertaking that we now don't do. So, testing, tracing, isolation. Yes, we have to do that in concert with the federal government. Again, no one's done it before, no one's done it to this volume. And second, for the states to do this role of reopening, we need funding. And the past federal legislation has not provided it. It's that simple. They funded many good causes: hospitals, small business, et cetera. Yeah, but you now want the state governments to do all this work. Do this, do this, do this, do this. Okay, I'll do everything I can. I need your help with the things I can't. But, you have to provide funding because at the same time the state governments are broke. And that's not just me. That's every Governor in the United States.
That's the National Governor's Association, the Chairman Governor Hogan - good man, Republican - and myself, Vice Chairman for the National Governor's Association, wrote a joint letter saying the states need $500 billion in funding because I have to be afloat and have some capacity to do all these things you want the Governor's to now do. And that has to be in the next federal legislation and there can't be excuses about it. So from today to 18 months, which is the last date for a vaccine, that's what we have to work through. First rule, do no harm.
This is a public health crisis, we're still in the woods. Just because that number has plateaued, that doesn't mean it's any time to relax what we're doing. So do no harm, don't go backwards. Hope we find a medical treatment between now and 18 months. In the meantime, testing, tracing, testing, tracing, trying to get that up to scale which is going to be the equivalent of getting Apollo 13 back to Earth, 220,000 miles 50 years ago. It is a very difficult task. It can't be done perfectly, I can tell you that right now but we can do better than we're doing and in the meantime a phased reopening of the economy as educated by testing tracing.
Now one other point on the phased reopening, what does that mean and how do we phase this reopening until we get to a medical treatment or a vaccine? This is what we're thinking about. We need clarity on what the federal government is going to do and what the state governments are going to do. I heard the President last night, it's up to the states basically. Great, I get it. The states can do the do no harm. It is their job to do the public health monitoring. The states can also do the phased reopening pan. We cannot do the states that have a large problem cannot do the testing and tracing without federal assistance and that's important.
On the reopening, we can do, and we have a blueprint for the reopening, again as guided by the testing-tracing, but there are two factors really on the reopening. How essential is the business, service or product or function? The more essential a business, service or product, the more urgent the need to immediately get them back online, or as soon as possible. So, how essential is what the business does and then second, what is the risk on infection spread of that business? Some businesses can say I can open tomorrow. In my business I can have all sorts of precautions, people will not be less than six feet apart. Period. There will be no congregation of people. I won't do conferences, I won't do joint meetings, it's not the way my business operates. I can bring everybody back, put them at separate desks, they'll never be near each other. I have a very low risk of infection spread. Businesses can start to redesign their workplace to think that way.
Alright, so your business poses a low risk of infection spread. That's the second factor and the first factor is how essential is your business? So that is almost a business by business evaluation that has to go on. And then once you determine the essential nature of the business, because right now we have all "essential workers" who are working, right? This would be, now what's the next tranche of essential workers and how high or low is the possibility of infection spread if that business becomes operational. Then you basically have a matrix where the lower risk of infection spread and the higher nature of essential services are the businesses that you would start prioritizing, right? So that's how we will inform our economic reopening as we're being guided by the testing-tracing and as we're making sure we're not jeopardizing the success we've made in handling the public health issue. That's the whole outline, the whole vision from here to 18 months, building that bridge to the new normal for the economy until we get to a conclusion.
In the meantime, for today, stop the spread. I'm going to show you a chart in the next couple of days. We've been tracking the infection rate which is, what? Which is one person -- how many people does one person infect? Does one person infect one person, two people, three people? That rate of infection is the difference between a manageable situation and a pandemic. And they can -- they can calibrate that for what Wuhan did, where we are now and where we were, and it is a fascinating analysis.
In the meantime, what do we do today? We have to continue to stop the spread and this is a constant calibration also. I'm going to issue an executive order that says all people in public must have a mask or nose covering -- mouth and nose covering, and they must wear it in a situation where you cannot, or are not maintaining social distancing. Meaning what? Meaning the same thing we've been saying from day one. If you're going to be in public, and you cannot maintain social distancing, then have a mask and put the mask on when you're not in socially distant places. You're walking down the street, you're walking down the street alone, great.
You're now at an intersection and there are people in the intersection and you're going to be in proximity to other people, put the mask on. You're right to go out for a walk in the park, go out for a walk because you need to get out of the house, the dog is getting on your nerves. Fine, don't infect me. You don't have a right to infect me. If you are going to be in a situation in public where you may come into contact with other people in a situation that is not socially distanced, you must have a mask or a cloth covering nose and mouth. That is by executive order. So, if you're going to get on public transit, you're going to get on a bus, you're going to get on a subway, you're going to stand on a subway platform, you're going to walk in a neighborhood that is busy, you're going to be on a sidewalk, you're going to pass other people on a sidewalk, you're not going to able to maintain social distancing, you must wear a mask or cloth or an attractive bandana or a color-coordinated bandana cloth, but you have to wear it in those situations. We'll give people three-day notice to allow compliance. Just on the off chance that somebody doesn't have a cloth covering or a mask, and we'll go from there.
On the ventilators, we've stabilized the health care situation. New York had one of the earlier curves. There are other places in this country now seeing increases in the death rate and seeing stress on their health care system. I will never forget the generosity that people across this country showed to our state and I said at that time, New Yorkers are generous and they are grateful and gracious and when you need help we will be there for you and we will be.
The state of Michigan is going through an issue right now. The State of Maryland is going through an issue. We're stabilized. We're going to send 100 ventilators to Michigan and 50 to the state of Maryland.
Last point, personal opinion. Build a bridge. We built a bridge and I learned a lot by building that bridge and it's a lesson that has informed me and a lesson that I think should inform people who are hearing about us needing to build this bridge.
It was a bridge across the Hudson River called the Tappan Zee Bridge. It was in very bad shape, had been in bad shape for 20 years. For 20 years everybody talked about we're going to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge. Nobody did it.
It was in such bad shape that there were actual holes in the roadway that they would put these large metal plates over and when you would drive across the Tappan Zee you would go over one of these metal plates and the plate would bounce a little bit and you could actually see glimmers of light that would come through the hole and metal plate. Traumatized two generations of drivers, me included. Government kept saying, yeah, we have to replace this bridge, we have to replace the bridge. Never did.
I become Governor. I say we have to replace the bridge. A whole wrath of bureaucrats say to me, in a nice way, you know what, it's too risky a venture. It goes across the Hudson River, the Hudson River's an environmentally sensitive place. You try to build a bridge in the Hudson River, you have to put down piles, you have to do all that construction. It's going to annoy environmental concerns, it's going to be very expensive, it's a very high-risk, difficult project. They cautioned me not to do it. By the way, for 20 years nobody had done it. I said yeah, but then you don't build the bridge. I understand the risk. I understand you could get blamed, I understand something could happen, I understand whatever you do in life people are going to have 57 different opinions and it's never going to be perfect. Yes, they can always write stories, this one criticized this, this one criticized this - we love negative in society for some reason. But then you don't get anything done.
Long story short, we built a bridge. On time, on budget. It's beautiful. We did go through all the heartburn of going through a construction project in the public domain. Yes, many people criticized. We picked blue, they wanted green. We did this, they wanted that. That's the nature of people. But, we did it. It is a beautiful symbol for me and for anyone who sees it. Don't tell me that we can't do it because I know that we can do it. Because we did do it and we did it very well.
Have we dealt with a situation like this? Can we build a bridge that takes us from today to 18 months? Yes. Yes, because we are bridge builders, that's what we do. We build bridges. Sometimes literally, sometimes symbolically, sometimes metaphorically, but we build bridges. The bridges can be a bridge, can be an airport. It can be a new civil rights legislation, new labor rights legislation, new minimum wage legislations, but we build bridges. That's what we do in New York and we're going to do this.
April 15, 2020.
Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on CNN's Cuomo Prime Time. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/audio-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-guest-cnns-cuomo-prime-time-4
Governor Cuomo: "This is one of those situations in life that shows us really what to be thankful for and gives us some perspective. It's simpler than we tend to make it. What do I want? I want to be able to go fishing with you and throw my cellphone in the ocean and not worry about it. I want to be able to sit around the table with Mom and laugh and your kids and my kids and be able to hug them without worrying about social distancing."
Cuomo: "I don't want get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and the first thing I have to go through is understanding how many deaths we had the night before. I don't want to talk to any more families who lost family members. I want the pain to stop. I want the fear to stop. I want the anxiety to stop."
Cuomo: "I want you to get out of your basement. I want Cristina to be okay. I want those hospital workers to be able to go home and sleep a full night. Just let's get back to normal. Let's get back to family. Let's get back to all those simple things that we took for granted and we were wrong and now we miss. And when we get them back, maybe we'll cherish them more than we ever have."
Earlier tonight, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was a guest on CNN's Cuomo Prime Time to discuss New York's ongoing effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
AUDIO is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available below:
Chris Cuomo: We have the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. Good to see you, big brother.
Governor Cuomo: Good to see you, little brother.
Chris Cuomo: You're good for a reality check? I want to try to nail down some of these things that are going on.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah, let's start with the reality check, but let's start with our own reality. Your appearance suggests you didn't have the best day. Your buttons are undone. Your shirt is a little tattered and wrinkled. How are you doing? How's it going over there? Wasn't a great day, huh?
Chris Cuomo: First of all, that's a cheap shot. And you know what, it wasn't.
Governor Cuomo: Looks better. Not great, but it looks better.
Chris Cuomo: Thank you. I'll take anything better right now. I've had my own struggles. They're common and now we have another common aspect of this as you know well - you've been telling me all day, families all across the state and the country are experiencing. It's very rare for a family to be one and done. Cristina now has COVID. She is now positive and it just breaks my heart. It is the one thing I was hoping wouldn't happen and now it has.
Governor Cuomo: Well, look, it's something we talked about when this first started. It's very hard for a person to quarantine in a home and other people not to get infected. That's why we talked about people who quarantine in hotels. They quarantine in a hotel room. The food - for 14 days - the food that comes in, they don't even take the plates out for 14 days. I mean, you want to talk about intense quarantine, right? But to do it in a home where a person's bringing you dishes, bringing you food, even if they're wearing a mask and gloves, you know, that virus can live on some surfaces up to two days. So in some ways this was inevitable. Luckily it was Cristina, not one of the kids. Now this is what families are dealing with, right? The point of you communicating this rather than just taking a couple of weeks off is you're communicating to Americans what this is like. And, by the way, this is what it's like. One person gets the virus. Other people in the home get the virus. You now have a mother and father with a virus. You have three kids that you have to take care of. This gets very complicated very fast so there is a reality to this. The good news is, look, to the extent you think maybe Cristina's going to blame you for this, there is a lot of other things we know she can blame you for so this is going to be number 17 on the list so i wouldn't worry about that.
Chris Cuomo: That's true.
Governor Cuomo: You're going to be getting better soon because you have to be getting to the tail end of this thing. So you'll be up and you'll be strong. And look, for the kids, when all is said and done, I don't think this is a bad experience for them to go through. You want to talk about growing up a little bit and seeing reality a little bit. Bella will step up. So it's all going to be fine. I know it makes a bad situation worse, but it's all going to be fine at the end.
Chris Cuomo: Look, just to be a little more transparent here, obviously, I've been a little bit of a mess about this today so I've been talking to Andrew about it a lot. The person who is not upset is Cristina. Cristina takes everything in stride and so far we're hoping - and a lot of this is anecdotal because we don't know that much - talking to so many of you who've experienced it in your own families, she lost her sense of smell and taste. This is not science. But anecdotally, the cases I hear about that are more mild tend to have that. I didn't have that. I didn't lose, and my friends who've had the long fevers like I have and the bad chest aspects, most of them didn't lose sense of smell. That's more about hope than it is about, you know, anything hard in terms of fact. But Andrew is telling you the truth about one thing. My 17-year-old stepped up. The kids stepped up. Because mom is the core. Right? I mean, when mom goes down, you feel it. And they have stepped up. They're helping each other. They're more quiet. They're focused on her and hopefully it makes the family even stronger. But I got to tell you, it's tough. It really makes me understand how people are dealing with so much and so much more than we are all over the place and for a long time.
Governor Cuomo: You'll get through it. You'll get through it.
Chris Cuomo: All right. So let's do this. Let's talk about getting through. Reality check. Who has the power to reopen New York State? The President said, me. You said, nah, nah, nah, you're not the king. You're a president. He said, okay, okay, but I give Cuomo and the other governors the power. He said, yeah, not really. Today he said, yeah, really, because I have all the power. Where are we?
Governor Cuomo: I don't think I said, "Nah, nah, nah" but I think -
Chris Cuomo: What it sounded like.
Governor Cuomo: The essence of what you're saying is - well, to you, that's what it sounded like. But I said Tenth Amendment. I said states' rights. I said the states have clear legal authority when it comes to issues of health and quarantine. That was the Prince case. It was a New York case, 1992 New York versus United States. So, it's clear on the law, and I did establish that - when the president said it, the president said he had total authority. That's not legally correct. I'm a governor. I represent the people of the state. Other governors all across the country said it. Governor Lamont said it. Governor Pritzker said it. They all said it. Democrats and Republicans. So, it was important to establish that basic legal fact. It's the governors' power. I think the president walked it back as best he could and he basically said, "Okay, it's the governors' power, but he's going to talk to the governors," or something which was - look, at the end of the day, it's fine because he said it's up to the governors and it's up to the governors when the governor will open their state and that's true and that's the law. And it is up to the governor and -
Chris Cuomo: But what -
Governor Cuomo: The states are in a different position, Chris.
Chris Cuomo: I hear you. But let's say he goes bad on that and he goes, "no, I'm going to reopen right now." Can you take him on? I mean, let's - I'm not baiting you. I believe you about not wanting fights. It would be much better if this goes smoothly. But this guy's a power player, and he's a good one and if he says, "you're going to reopen, Cuomo, you're going to pay because I'm not going to let you keep New York closed and hurt all these people because you don't know how to get your act together. You will pay if you don't play." How do you fight it?
Governor Cuomo: Yeah, look, you're right. I don't want to fight. I don't want unnecessary fights, right? This is a very important time. You have this politically charged atmosphere. Everybody is in their respective corner. Anything can trigger a political brawl. We have a political brawl in the middle of this situation, it's - you want to talk about going from bad to worse. So, I am bending over backwards to stay out of politics, right? That's why I said 57 times I don't have any political agenda, I'm not running for anything, period. If people think -
Chris Cuomo: Is that anything, by the way, you'll reconsider?
Governor Cuomo: No, I've not reconsidered. The answer stands. So why did I got to such great lengths, if people think there's any political filter here, then their backs are going to get up, their antenna is going to go up and they're going to say, "well, something's funny." No politics. I don't want any unnecessary fights. The president would never say, "I'm going to overrule the governor of New York or any state," because he would have no legal basis whatsoever. So, he will never get there. Obviously, if you put a governor in a corner and he poked him with a sharp stick, the governor would say, I would say, "I'm not going to put welfare and health of my people in danger." But he would never go there.
Chris Cuomo: I would like to see him poke you with a sharp stick, by the way. Just as an aside.
Governor Cuomo: I know you would. I never doubted that.
Chris Cuomo: I would pay to see that actually. Raise revenue for the state.
Governor Cuomo: I know. I know.
Chris Cuomo: The idea of his ability to do it. Okay, let's say you're right. We've seen him do things that he didn't have a legal basis to do before. He does it because he believes might makes right. But let's say that doesn't happen. We have a bigger problem. All the plans and the phases and we'll do this and I'm going to push the states to do it earlier. It's all neglecting the reality that frightens all most: Testing. He says we don't do the testing, it's on you. You, the Governor of Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio. You all say, "We're not prepared to test. We can't handle the scale." Can you open anywhere if you can't do testing, tracing and treatment?
Governor Cuomo: That's a legitimate issue. I knew you would get to one sooner or later. Look, the way I think of it is, when is it over, over? It's over, over when you have a vaccine. Then people know the virus is dead. That's 12 to 18 months, so the question is how do you get from here to 12 to 18 months? Well, maybe they'll come up with a medical treatment, convalescent plasma, et cetera. Yeah, maybe. Otherwise, we have to get from here to 12 months, 18 months. We have to start to phase in the opening of the economy while we're watching the public health consequences and the number of hospitalizations, et cetera.
Testing is the best mechanism for you to get through this 12 to 18 months. Now, why doesn't the President want to go near testing? Because testing is a quagmire. No one can do it. No one can bring it up to scale quickly. It is very complicated. I have spent days and days on this. Government doesn't really do testing, it's really a private lab function. To now take testing and ramp it up to where you have to bring it, Chris, is an impossibility.
Chris Cuomo: We have to take a break, but this matters too much. So let's go to break on this thought. Help me understand, because when people hear you say, "nobody can do it," why? Why is it so hard? Is it about not having enough tests? Not enough people? Not enough labs? Why can't America do it when we can do everything?
Governor Cuomo: It's all of the above. It's all of the above. Can we do it? Yes. Can you do it in one month? Well, no. So everybody's reaction is hands off because this is now going to be the blame game. Well, there wasn't enough testing. Who's to blame? That's why the President said 11 times, after I said 11 times, the states can't do the test. You've never heard me say, "I'm not capable. I give up." I don't like to say it. It's not who I am, it's not what I believe. I said it because I want to make sure we're clear: I can't do it. I can't bring it to scale. This gets very complicated. It was all of the above. They don't have enough manufacturing equipment, they don't have enough vails, they don't have enough swabs, they don't have enough machines. The private labs don't have the capacity. They need testing agents that don't even come from this country. There's a whole international supply chain to this.
To grab hold of this is very problematic and we just went through this situation of how do we build ventilators in 14 days. That turned out to be very complicated. This testing is now what ventilators was in this new phase. I said I can't do it. President said the states must do it. The states are saying, "we can't." This has to be justified, this dispute. It's not even a dispute. The truth is nobody can do it well. You can't bring that industry to this volume, this scale, nationwide. We can't have 50 states - what's happening now, is I'm competing against all the other states for those private sector companies that have some capacity.
I'm trying to buy tests. I called Governor Pritzker. There's a company in his state that does these tests and they're one of the leading companies. I said, "How do we do this? I don't want to compete with you." But every state is now competing and the federal government. This is madness. We did this with ventilators. It can't be 50 states scrambling and bidding for the same product from the same 10 companies in the country. It can't be.
Chris Cuomo: Alright. Let's take a break. This is very sobering because what's the difference between ventilators and testing? Well, ventilators is for a very distinct part of the population and so far, hasn't burst. But all of us need the testing equipment. The reach has to be complete. Anywhere you want to open up and you want me to go with my kids, I'm going to want to know I'm safe. Let's take a break. When I come back, we'll talk with the Governor about how do we get somewhere better? And what is the impact that New York is already going to have to deal with economically and in terms of our lifestyle. Next.
...
Chris Cuomo: All right, we're here with Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo. A sobering discussion about how testing is everything. Quick question, Admiral Giroir okay, he is the official in charge at HHS for doing all the testing. I've never interviewed him. I've rarely seen him out front. He is in charge of the most important component. Have you had any back and forth with him? Is there any kind of, you know, interconnectedness on that level?
Governor Cuomo: No, I'll take your word that he exists, but I wouldn't know otherwise.
Chris Cuomo: Wow, the Governor of New York, and I'm not calling this about ignorance. I'm talking about this process is not where it needs to be, big brother. Economically, are you doing your budget right now, how big a bite has this taken out of your state budget, and what will that mean in terms of needs and your ability to deliver on bigger needs than you may have ever seen before?
Governor Cuomo: Yes, we actually got the budget don't, but I wouldn't suspect that you would know given that you've been sick and in your basement for two weeks. The budget, we have about a $10 billion to $15 billion gap which is all the money in the world to us. It's been devastating to the economy. That's the other part of this equation. The federal government says it's up to the states. The states should do this. The states should do this. The National Governors Association, NGA, Chairman is a Republican. I'm the Vice Chair, Democrat. We sent a joint letter saying to the President, we've been cut out of the other federal bills, you expect us to do anything, we need funding as a state because otherwise we can't do any of this.
Chris Cuomo: You say "cut out." He says "what are you talking about?" He's like, I gave you the most amount of money of anybody.
Governor Cuomo: No, he didn't give the state government - the state governments got cut out. What they did was, it was political pork barreling - especially on the Senate side. They give every state that has a senator, winds up with a big chunk of money, whether it has to do with COVID or not and proportionality or not, and they fund funded entities in the state, hospitals, this entity, this entity, but they didn't give any money to the state government. So, then I had to cut all sorts of funds and I don't have any money to implement any of the things we're talking about. So, look, it's not - you don't pick up a lot of political chits giving money to a state government. So, the politicians don't want to do it. But that's the responsible thing to do and I've made that point abundantly clear, I think, to my delegation.
Chris Cuomo: His criticism is you asked for too much. Cuomo's always on the phone, give me, give me, give me. He didn't even need it. He didn't need the hospital ship, didn't need the ventilators, didn't need the beds. But we gave it to him anyway because I'm a nice guy. True?
Governor Cuomo: I don't think he said exactly that. I guess the basic message -
Chris Cuomo: That was the gist. Just answer it -
Governor Cuomo: Well, you say it in a more provocative tone. But I'm not going to rise to the bait from you, for anyone. I'm not in a fighting mood. There will come a time when I may be in a fighting mood, but that is down the road when we're over the bridge.
Chris Cuomo: Yeah, a cool dude in a loose mood, is that you?
Governor Cuomo: A cool dude in a loose mood. Don't you forget it.
Chris Cuomo: What a joke. It's making me sweat.
Governor Cuomo: I said - everything makes you sweat. It's called a fever. But anyway, the President did say I asked him for help. He was right. I did ask him for help. He is the federal government. And we were afraid of going over capacity in the hospital system. He brought in the Army Corps of Engineers. He did it quickly. They did a great job. 2,500 beds at Javits. The U.S. Navy Ship Comfort. I said great job. I applaud the Army Corps of Engineers. The President did it in one day. It was the overflow valve. We've also had about 800 people go through Javits and you needed that buffer because we were looking at numbers that said we needed three times the number of hospital beds that we had. And by the way, those numbers came from the CDC, from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, so it's not, you know, who was dealing with bad projections. The numbers from the CDC, from -
Chris Cuomo: Hey, look, thank God the flattening is happening. Fattening is happening, too.
Governor Cuomo: Yes.
Chris Cuomo: Give yourself credit.
Governor Cuomo: Yes.
Chris Cuomo: Give everybody credit. People have done the right thing.
Governor Cuomo: Yes.
Chris Cuomo: That's why. It's not a gotcha that the projections aren't right. It means we're doing the right thing. The question is how do you keep doing the right thing?
Governor Cuomo: Yes.
Chris Cuomo: You just put up a muscular measure. Masks everywhere you go? Everybody?
Governor Cuomo: No, the executive order had a proviso. The executive order said masks when you are in public. If you are in a situation where you can't maintain social distancing, right? So, you don't have to wear the mask if you're in public or outside and nobody's around, but when you get close to someone. Then you have to wear the mask because, and muscular, I know people aren't crazy about it, and it's an inconvenience, but, look, in the scope of things, you don't have a right to infect me, right?
Chris Cuomo: Right.
Governor Cuomo: And we're spending all this time, all this money, closing down everything to lower this spread. A mask is not that big a deal, right? It could be a mask, it could be a cloth, a bandanna.
Chris Cuomo: Two pushbacks. First pushback, you can't enforce it. You don't have the police. 20% almost are out sick. You can't be chasing around people about masks. You can't enforce it. Nobody's going to do it.
Governor Cuomo: We can enforce it. And the proviso I can enforce personally. The local governments have police forces. They can enforce it. They will enforce it. We don't have a civil fine that goes with this now, but we could. And I believe people are going to follow it. Look, Chris, nobody had to listen to anything I said. From day one, I had no ability to enforce this. The reason I communicate so much with the public right now is I want them to understand the facts and the plain truth and why I'm taking these actions. If they believe it makes sense, they will do it. This is New York. They aren't going to force anyone to do anything. But I spend the time to lay the groundwork so people have followed the advice that I give them and the executive orders that I give them because they could have told me to pounce on any of these things.
Chris Cuomo: Fair point. Second point of pushback, you can't set an example, true or false, for wearing the mask because you can't find one that fit over that huge double-barreled shotgun in the middle of your face.
Governor Cuomo: See, I'm not going to rise to the bait. I love you. I love you. Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. We drew a circle of love that drew him in. I love you. Hit you with dad.
Chris Cuomo: Don't you go floating pop's poem to me, although that's where you got that schnoz. You drew a circle that kept me out.
Governor Cuomo: I love you. I love you.
Chris Cuomo: But love redrew a circle that kept you in.
Governor Cuomo: We drew a circle that included you in. I love you.
Chris Cuomo: But not that nose.
Governor Cuomo: I know you love me deep down inside.
Chris Cuomo: No, I love you all the way on the outside. You are my big brother. I'm proud of what you've been doing. I can't say it enough. But I got to ask you one more thing and then I'll let you go. Garcetti in Los Angeles, he's been steady, the mayor. Mike DeWine, the governor, Republican, in Ohio, steady. Sports, they're, like, I don't know, it's going to look different. In Los Angeles they say maybe not until 2021. Sports huge for New York. Will we see a Yankees game this summer?
Governor Cuomo: Governor DeWine is a great guy. He's been very helpful. I've been a long-term fan of his. Mayor Garcetti is really top shelf. Look, nobody knows. What I say to all these guys, you know, they come up with all these projections, we're going to do this in May, we're going to do this in June, we're going to do this in July. They have no idea. We have no idea where we're going to be. Let's find out where we are. Let's find out the facts and then we'll make a decision. Everyone has been wrong about everything for this entire duration. Right? 45 days. To now project 60 days forward and say, this is what I think we need to do - stop. Stop with the game. Let's follow the data. On sports, look, I talked to Jeff Wilpon today, the owner of the Mets. Go, Queens, go, New York. I said, why can't we talk about a baseball season with nobody in the stands? Why can't you play the game with the players? And, look, I think it would be good for the country. I think it would be good for people to have something to watch and do to fight cabin fever. And it's something that I'm going to pursue. Apparently, major league baseball would have to make a deal with the players because if you have no one in the stands then the numbers are going to change, right? The economics are going to change. But if Major League Baseball would have to make a deal with players. If you have no one in the stands, then the numbers are going to change. The economics are going to change. If Major League Baseball and the players could come to an agreement on how to adjust the economics for that reality, I think that would be a good thing. We have to start to move to normalcy. People have to start to see some hope and light.
Chris Cuomo: Absolutely. Let's end on that. Everybody's having their little picture of what normal will look like. What they want to get back to. With the summer coming, what does the future look like in your minds eye? What are you looking forward to being able to do again?
Governor Cuomo: I think this is one of those situations in life that shows us really what to be thankful for and gives us some perspective. It's simpler than we tend to make it. What do I want? I want to be able to go fishing with you and throw my cellphone in the ocean and not worry about it. I want to be able to sit around the table with Mom and laugh and your kids and my kids and be able to hug them without worrying about social distancing. I never want to hear about social distancing again. I don't want get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and the first thing I have to go through is understanding how many deaths we had the night before. I don't want to talk to any more families who lost family members. I want the pain to stop. I want the fear to stop. I want the anxiety to stop. I want you to get out of your basement. I want Cristina to be okay. I want those hospital workers to be able to go home and sleep a full night. Just let's get back to normal. Let's get back to family. Let's get back to all those simple things that we took for granted and we were wrong and now we miss. And when we get them back, maybe we'll cherish them more than we ever have.
Chris Cuomo: That is beautiful. I share your dream. You get a big amen. I was reading the other day, you quoted FDR beautifully a short while back and I was reading some of his stuff last night about the four freedoms that came up running into World War II. I'll tell you, freedom from fear and freedom from want. Boy, do those ring true in a way they never did before now. Governor Cuomo, my big brother, Andrew. Thank you. I love you and I appreciate you.
Governor Cuomo: I love you. Thanks.
April 15, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces 'NYS on PAUSE' Extended until May 15. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-announces-nys-pause-extended-until-may-15
Directs All New Yorkers to Wear Masks or Face Coverings on Public Transportation Systems, While Taking Private Transportation or Riding in For-Hire Vehicles as Part of Executive Order
Announces State Will Send 100 Ventilators to New Jersey
Confirms 8,505 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 222,284; New Cases in 48 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced all NYS on Pause restrictions and closures will be extended until May 15th. This action is taken in consultation with other regional states. The states will re-evaluate after this additional closure period.
Governor Cuomo also directed all New Yorkers to wear masks or face coverings on public transportation systems and while taking private transportation or riding in for-hire vehicles. Additionally, all operators of public systems, private carriers and for-hire vehicles must wear a mask or face covering at all times while working. These directives expand on the Executive Order announced by the Governor yesterday requiring all people in New York to wear a mask or a face covering when out in public and in situations where social distancing cannot be maintained. The Executive Order will go into effect on Friday, April 17th, at 8 PM.
The Governor also announced the state will give 100 ventilators to New Jersey. Yesterday the Governor announced the state will give 100 ventilators to Michigan and 50 ventilators to Maryland.
Unpausing New York and reopening our economy is going to be an ongoing process over the coming weeks that we're working through with other states
Governor Cuomo
"Unpausing New York and reopening our economy is going to be an ongoing process over the coming weeks that we're working through with other states, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't drive up the infection rate and create a second wave of the virus," Governor Cuomo said. "We have shown that we can control the spread of the virus, but we can't now undo all the progress we've made. As we continue to work on a regional plan to get people back to work and get businesses back up and running in a safe and responsible way, we are extending all NYS on Pause functions until May 15th in coordination with other states in our multi-state council because although we can control the beast, we need to get that infection rate down even more and we are not there yet."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 8,505 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 222,284 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 222,284 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
581
33
Allegany
28
0
Broome
167
14
Cattaraugus
32
0
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
24
0
Chemung
70
1
Chenango
73
2
Clinton
46
1
Columbia
99
3
Cortland
24
1
Delaware
47
1
Dutchess
2,085
37
Erie
1,850
99
Essex
12
0
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
25
1
Genesee
78
2
Greene
74
1
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
43
3
Jefferson
48
1
Lewis
8
1
Livingston
32
1
Madison
105
0
Monroe
932
48
Montgomery
32
0
Nassau
27,772
1,057
Niagara
216
12
NYC
123,146
4,844
Oneida
249
3
Onondaga
462
13
Ontario
65
3
Orange
5,888
172
Orleans
34
1
Oswego
44
2
Otsego
44
0
Putnam
573
2
Rensselaer
137
13
Rockland
8,752
278
Saratoga
231
4
Schenectady
245
8
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
6
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
93
1
Steuben
154
3
Suffolk
24,182
904
Sullivan
437
13
Tioga
27
2
Tompkins
116
1
Ulster
761
28
Warren
81
4
Washington
46
4
Wayne
49
1
Westchester
21,828
881
Wyoming
34
0
Yates
7
1
April 15, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces 'NYS on PAUSE' Extended until May 15. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-announces-ny-1
Directs All New Yorkers to Wear Masks or Face Coverings on Public Transportation Systems, While Taking Private Transportation or Riding in For-Hire Vehicles as Part of Executive Order
Announces State Will Send 100 Ventilators to New Jersey
Confirms 8,505 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 222,284; New Cases in 48 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "Private transportation carriers, for-hire vehicles, any operator of a public system, an operator of a public carrier and for-hire vehicles must wear a mask at all times. ... So, is this inconvenient? Yes, but you're in a closed environment, by definition. You're not socially distancing, by definition. ... This is a precaution for everyone that I think balances individual liberties with a social conscience."
Cuomo: "New Yorkers are the most generous and most gracious and we'll be there when people need help. New Jersey is still looking at their curve rising. The wave hasn't crested in New Jersey. They're our neighbors, anything we can do to help, I've told Governor Murphy all he has to do is ask. We're here and we're going to send 100 ventilators to New Jersey."
Cuomo: "You stopped everything. How do you now restart that machine in a coordinated way that doesn't drive up the infection rate? That's the balance that we're trying to strike on un-pausing and having businesses open. ... This is not just government deciding. It's government deciding with private businesses who now have to take a look at this new normal, this new reality, and tell us how they think they can adjust to it."
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo earlier todayannounced all NYS on Pause restrictions and closures will be extended until May 15th. This action is taken in consultation with other regional states. The states will re-evaluate after this additional closure period.
Governor Cuomo also directed all New Yorkers to wear masks or face coverings on public transportation systems and while taking private transportation or riding in for-hire vehicles. Additionally, all operators of public systems, private carriers and for-hire vehicles must wear a mask or face covering at all times while working. These directives expand on the Executive Order announced by the Governor yesterday requiring all people in New York to wear a mask or a face covering when out in public and in situations where social distancing cannot be maintained. The Executive Order will go into effect on Friday, April 17th, at 8 PM.
The Governor also announced the state will give 100 ventilators to New Jersey. Yesterday the Governor announced the state will give 100 ventilators to Michigan and 50 ventilators to Maryland.
Finally, the Governor confirmed 8,505 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 222,284 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 222,284 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
581
33
Allegany
28
0
Broome
167
14
Cattaraugus
32
0
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
24
0
Chemung
70
1
Chenango
73
2
Clinton
46
1
Columbia
99
3
Cortland
24
1
Delaware
47
1
Dutchess
2,085
37
Erie
1,850
99
Essex
12
0
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
25
1
Genesee
78
2
Greene
74
1
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
43
3
Jefferson
48
1
Lewis
8
1
Livingston
32
1
Madison
105
0
Monroe
932
48
Montgomery
32
0
Nassau
27,772
1,057
Niagara
216
12
NYC
123,146
4,844
Oneida
249
3
Onondaga
462
13
Ontario
65
3
Orange
5,888
172
Orleans
34
1
Oswego
44
2
Otsego
44
0
Putnam
573
2
Rensselaer
137
13
Rockland
8,752
278
Saratoga
231
4
Schenectady
245
8
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
6
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
93
1
Steuben
154
3
Suffolk
24,182
904
Sullivan
437
13
Tioga
27
2
Tompkins
116
1
Ulster
761
28
Warren
81
4
Washington
46
4
Wayne
49
1
Westchester
21,828
881
Wyoming
34
0
Yates
7
1
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. In case anyone doesn't know anyone who is here today, from my far right Dr. Malatras, not really a doctor; Dr. Zucker who is really a doctor; to my left Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governor; to her left Robert Mujica, Budget Director.
Let's give you some facts today. My man, Sergeant Joe Friday, just facts ma'am. My daughters say nobody understands who Joe Friday is. That's their mistake. Dragnet was an under-appreciated cinematic treasure, my opinion. Joe Friday, just the facts, just the facts.
Here are just the facts. Hospitalization rate is down from 18,000 to 17,000 mark. That is good news. Total hospitalizations down. You talk about the flattening of the curve, the apex, how long is it flat? When does it start to curve? We don't know but this is a good sign today. If you look the net change in hospitalizations it's down more signify than it has been. So that's positive news. Three-day average which again is more accurate than the day to day counts - I'm a little skeptical about the day to day counts. This is all a newreporting system but the three-day average is more reliable. ICU admissions number is also down significantly for the first time. So that's good news. Intubation is down and that's really good news because the intubations ultimately lead to the worst news - 80 percent roughly of people get intubated never come off the ventilator.
The number of new people who are diagnosed with COVID, about 2,000 still yesterday. So when you see the reduction in rates remember what we're talking about. We're talkingabout a reduction in increases. You still have 2,000 people every day about who are walking into a hospital for the first time or who are being diagnosed with COVID for the first time and 2,000 is still a lot of people.
But the good news is it means we can control the virus. We can control the spread and we did not know for sure that we could do that. We speculated that we could do it but we didn't know. So now we know that we can control this disease.
The bad news is 2,000 people walked into a hospital yesterday for the first time with the disease and the worst news is 600 people died yesterday from the disease. That is still continuing at a really tragic, tragic rate. Of those deaths 577 in hospitals, 29 in nursing homes. We've been watching the nursing homes because nursing homes in many ways are ground zero for this situation. Last night the number in nursing homes was relatively low.
Everyone asked the same two questions. When is it over and how do we get there? How do we start to make our way from here to there? When is it over? When is it finally over? It's over when you have a vaccine and that's 12 months to 18 months. We've said to the FDA any way we can be helpful in the testing of that vaccine. How do we accelerate that? How do we expedite it? New York is ready, willing and able to do that with the FDA. Maybe there's a medical treatment between now and the vaccine - that would be great but those are unknowns and it's out of our bailiwick. We are working with a lot of companies that are working on treatments. We're testing treatments in our hospitals but that's a pure medical research and development function which is beyond us.
At the same time how do we un-pause New York? New York is now on pause. How do we un-pause it? First, do no harm. Don't let that infection rate go up to the best of your ability. Don't lose the progress that you have made. Second, now go back that we have some stability and we can actually work with the health care system which we had on overdrive for many, many weeks and we had increased capacity as you remember. Every hospital had to increase capacity 50 percent. I mean just think about that, 50 percent more beds,staffing those beds during this horrific period. Now we have a chance to be more intelligent frankly about handling our health care system, testing and tracing, testing and tracing, testing and tracing, and we need the federal government to work with us on that and then phasing an economic return to the quote unquote new normal. Right? Those are all activities that are going on at the same time and that's our plan to quote unquote un-pause New York.
You stopped everything. How do you now restart that machine in a coordinated way that doesn't drive up the infection rate? That's the balance that we're trying to strike on un-pausing and having businesses open. That is a nuanced question. There's no light switch. It's not all businesses go back tomorrow. It's, what businesses, what do they do, whatrisks do they pose, and what changes can they make in their business to make them more safe? This is not just government deciding. It's government deciding with private businesses who now have to take a look at this new normal, this new reality, and tell us how they think they can adjust to it.
One of our questions and evaluations is how essential is that business service? You have to start somewhere. Right now we have the economy working with what are quote unquote essential workers. That's why the grocery store is open. That's where public transit is running. All right, so we want to start to bring the economy back. Move up one tranche on how you define essential with what's the next level of essential businesses. Are there certain businesses that are inherently safer or can be safer? And then let's talk about how we reopen them and where we reopen them. And these are all questions that we have to work through on a case by case basis.
But there is a matrix and the matrix is how important is the business to society, how essential a service, and how risky is that business from a rate of infection. Obviously the more essential a business, the lower the risk, the more they are a priority. Then how do you do it? You do it in phases of priority and then you phase it up the way we phase itdown which is by percentages.
This is going to be an ongoing process over the coming weeks that we're working through with the other states. But the what, the how, the when, looking at how important that business is and what the risk that business poses, and then do it in coordination with our other states because this is really a regional issue and it should be addressed on that basis. Coordinating with the other states doesn't mean we'll always be in lockstep but we'll talk through everything first and hopefully we're not doing something that's contradictory to another state at a minimum, and so far so good on that exercise and then analysis is ongoing.
But it's not going to be all about what government does. What the private sector now has to think about: what they do and how they do it and how they can do it differently in this new normal. Reimagine your workplace and we learned a lot through this situation.People work from home. Well, how many people can continue to work from home and the business still works? How do you socially distance in the work place? Can you socially distance in your workplace? What are your new normal procedures and practices? How do you think you're going to get workers back and forth and what precautions would you take? In the workplace how would people work and where would they sit or where theystand and how do you do it without conference meetings and how do you do it without gatherings? How are you going to interact with the public in a way that keeps the public safe? We're talking about businesses that pose a lower risk. Tell us how you intend to organize and conduct your business and can you do it in a way that poses a lower risk? What would you do with your workforce to make sure, if an infection happens, we can jump on it quickly? As we're going through all this planning, this is going to be a moment of transformation for society. We paid a very high price for it. How do we learn the lessons so that this new normal is a better New York? There are lessons that we must learn from this because we do need to do things differently or we can do things differently and we can do things better.
Part of the way across that bridge is testing. It is the single best tool to inform decisions and to calibrate all of this. This new testing world is a new frontier for all of us. New York State has been very aggressive about testing. We set a very ambitious goal when we began and I'm happy to say they did it. We've done 500,000 tests in 30 days. That's more than California, Florida and Michigan combined. This is all about figuring it out first and taking a system, that frankly didn't exist, and creating this testing system and this testingregimen. Five hundred thousand tests in one month, that sounds great. And it was great. It was a great accomplishment and congratulations to everyone who put it together.
When you think of 500,000 tests in one month and then you compare it to the fact that you have 19 million people in this state, you have 9 million workers, the 500,000 doesn't sound so big. We have many questions to answer. Where do you test? How do you get the supplies? How do you coordinate the private labs? How do you coordinate the demand going to these private labs? Everybody wants testing. Private sector companies are calling for testing. They're going right to the labs. Everyone is going right to these labs and 50 states are competing and the federal government is buying product from these labs.
This has to be figured out and it can only be figured out in partnership with the federal government. On top of that, once you go for testing, you have to trace every person who comes up positive. Trace means investigate. Investigate all those prior contacts and then one contact, you test that person, leads you to another person. The tracing investigators are really assembling an army that does not now exist. I spoke to the White House this morning about it. I understand that this is a problematic area and the federal government's not eager to get involved in testing. I get that, but the plain reality here is we have to do it in partnership with the federal government.
You're talking about supply chains that go back to China. A state does not have the capacity to do that. There's no reason why you would have 50 states each trying to figure this out on their own, competing the federal government, competing with the private sector. So I'm very much looking forward to the federal government's willingness to tackle this, understanding that it will be imperfect at best. If we work together we can do better than any of us could do alone. That's what this is all about. You're not going to achieve optimum performance. You can't put together this national system with perfection so people are understandably reluctant to get involved. Understanding the risk and understanding that it's never going to be done perfectly - if we work together we can do better and that's what we actually have to accomplish.
We have to strengthen the health care system. Our surge and flex, which is the first time we've ever called upon all these hospitals to work together and coordinate. Every hospital was basically its own enterprise. Then we go back and we say, "Well you all have to work together and coordinate and we're going to help you coordinate." It was the first time that's ever happened. We understand about a stockpile like we've never understood before. We understand about sharing resources like we've never understood before. And we understand about sharing among states and how good people were to New York when we needed it and states stepping up and sending us ventilators and I said New Yorkers don't forget. And New Yorkers are the most generous and most gracious and we'll be there when people need help.
New Jersey is still looking at their curve rising. The wave hasn't crested in New Jersey. They're our neighbors, anything we can do to help, I've told Governor Murphy all he has to do is ask. We're here and we're going to send 100 ventilators to New Jersey.
But the key to all of this, the calibration is the infection rate and this gets a little technical, but I need people to really understand this. Why don't you open tomorrow? Because we're afraid the infection rate will go up and everything we've been doing is to slow the infection. Well, how do you track the infection rate? We don't, we don't we don't track infection rates. We see hospitalization rates which are different. A hospitalization rate is a person who got infected and became seriously ill, so they had to go to the hospital. But we don't know how many people have been infected or are getting infected. We only know at this point how many people walk into a hospital, Ok? Or how many people get tested in a nursing home.
If you have advance testing then you'll have a better idea of what percent of your population has actually been exposed. That's what the antibody testing is all about. But the key is as you're making this calibration on the reopening of the economy, as you bringing more people out of their homes, how fast is that virus spreading and how quickly is that infection rate rising, right? Dr. Fauci said early on that this virus spreads, it does it very well and we know that and we've learned that the hard way.
The rate of infection is everything okay, all those early projection models assumed a higher rate of infection, a higher rate of spread. That's why they were calling for so many more hospital beds, many more mortalities. Because they projected a higher rate of spread. That has not happened so far. Caveat, so far. We've controlled the beast. We brought the rate of spread down. If their rate of spread actually happened, we would have been in a much, much worse situation and we would have been in a really bad place. I mean their projections were staggering and it didn't happen because we slowed the models.
But remember what they were talking about, CDC which is supposed to be the preeminent source - 160 million to 214 million people infected they were projecting. That was only March 13, that's what the CDC was projecting. You know how many 160 to 240 million are? We only have 328 million people in the country. They were projecting more than half of the population and maybe two thirds of the population infected and that was only a month ago. They were saying 2.4 million people to 21 million people would be hospitalized. You know how many that is? We only have 900,000 hospital beds in the nation. They were saying, by their projection a minimum of twice as many people would need hospital beds as we have hospital beds. Just imagine that, that was the CDC. The White House Corona Virus Task Force the same thing. White House Corona Virus Task Force was saying 1.5 to 2.2 million deaths, deaths and that was the White House Corona Virus Task Force as of March 31, okay. Worst best case scenario 100,00 to 241,000 with mitigation efforts. March 31 just over two weeks ago. And that's why all of these models said the same thing. They were all believing a higher infection right now, and that's McKinsey and that's Columbia and that's Cornell. That's all of them. That's the Gates funded model. They were all projecting a higher infection rate. We slowed the infection rate by our actions. And that's why we're in a better position today.
Now what does the infection rate mean? And I know this gets a little granular, but people have to understand that if they're going to understand why we need to do what we need to do. The infection rate is how many people does one person infect, okay? How fast is the virus spreading from one person to another? And they talk about Arnot factor. The Arnot factor is the projected spread of the virus, okay? If one person infects less than one other person, the disease is on the decline. If one person basically infects one more person the rate of spread is stable. I get infected. I infect one. One person infects one. When you have a really situation out of control is one person infects two people or more because then the increase is just exponential, and that's fire through dry grass. This is what they were all trying to project. And this is what we have to control as we start to reopen the economy.
We say we turn the valve on the economy. We open a little bit and we watch the meter, right? What's the meter? The meter is the hospitalization rate or even better the virus spread rate. So, you start to turn that valve. You start to bring people out of their homes. You start to reopen businesses. You see that number going up. Turn the valve back right away. And this is what we're trying to deal with going forward. And again, nobody has been here before. So, we're trying to figure it out. If one person, if the virus spread increases to the place where one person infects two people. That is an outbreak. If one person is only infecting one other person. That is basically a stable increase. Ideally, one person is infecting less than one person. And that is a decline of the spread of the virus. And that's what we're shooting for.
Just to belabor this one more point. Where you've seen an outbreak epidemic spread, it's when one person is infecting more than one other person. That's when you're out of control. On the Diamond Princess Cruise, the infection rate was one person infects 2.2 additional people. Wuhan was one person was infecting two people or three people. The 1918 pandemic one person was infecting 1.5 to 2.8 on our severe projection. One person was infecting 1.4 to 2.8. On the moderate projection, one person was infecting 1.2 to 1.4, okay? What we've done because of our mitigation efforts, social distancing, stay home, lock the door. We've brought it to less than 1. Our infections spread rate is 0.9, okay? Wuhan, which really closed down everything and locked it up. Wuhan brought the infection rate down to 0.3, okay? So, that's the range we're talking about. But when you think about that, we're now 0.9. We only have a margin of error of 0.9 to 1.2. 1.2 takes you back to the high projection rate. We're at 0.9. That does not leave you a lot of wiggle room. So, you're going to start to phase the reopening. You're at 0.9 now after this entire closedown. If you go to 1.2, you're going to have a problem again. So you see how narrow the window is. But, New York Pause has worked. The closedown has worked. That's how we controlled the beast, that's how we got it down to .9. However, we're not there yet. We're just at .9. Again, Wuhan got down to .3. So we have to continue doing what we're doing. I'd like to see that infection rate get down even more.
The New York Pause policies, the closedown policies, will be extended in coordination with other states to May 15. I don't want to project beyond that period. That's about one month. One month is a long time. People need certainly and clarity so they can plan. I need a coordinated action plan with the other states. So, one month, we'll continue the closedown policies. What happens after then? I don't know. We will see depending on what the data shows. What does that mean? Tell me what our infection rate spread is. Is it .9? Is it 1? Is it .7? Tell me what the hospitalization rate is. And then the experts will tell us the best course of conduct based on that data. No political decisions, no emotional decisions. Data and science—we're talking about human lives here.
As relatively simple and possibly annoying as it seems, wearing a mask is one of the best things that we can do. And I understand we're getting a lot of not happy phone calls off what I said yesterday about wearing a mask in public, but I'm sorry it makes people unhappy. I do not consider it a major burden and it really is a simple measure that can save lives. And yes, people say it's a personal intrusion on them, but again remember it's not just about you, right? I have rights, also. And my kids have rights. And your kids have rights. And you have a right for another person to take reasonable safeguards not to get infected. So the masks work. We said in public.
Today, I'm going to include public transportation systems - private transportation carriers, for-hire vehicles, any operator of a public system, an operator of a public carrier and for-hire vehicles must wear a mask at all times. What does this mean? If you get on a bus, you need to wear a mask. If you get in a train, you need to wear a mask. If you get into a private car service—Uber, Lyft—the operator needs to wear a mask. If you get on a private bus, the operator needs to wear a mask and you need to wear a mask on a private carrier. So, is this inconvenient? Yes, but you're in a closed environment, by definition. You're not socially distancing, by definition. You're the front seat of a car to the back seat of a car. You're one seat in a bus to another seat in a bus. This is a precaution for everyone that I think balances individual liberties with a social conscience. This will go into effect Friday, 8 p.m.
Ultimately what determines the rate of infection? You do. And I do. That's what this all comes down to. As simple as it sounds. It's not about government, it's not about anything else. It's about what people decide to do, and what people have decided to do. They have brought this infection rate down, it's that simple. Nurses, doctors did a phenomenal job. First responders did a phenomenal job. Essential workers did a phenomenal job. But that rate came down because people changed their behavior. That's what happened. It is about the behavior of our people. It's that simple. It's our behavior, it's our level of discipline, it's how we educate our children, it's how considerate we are of others. What we're willing to do to safeguard others' health in our community. That's what makes all the difference on what we're doing. And it is the simple things. It's wearing a mask. It's washing your hands. It's the hand sanitizer. It's the social distance. It's making sure your children understand what to do, what not to do. It's all of these simple procedures that seem almost insignificant but on a collective basis make all the difference in the world. And it is making smart choices. I want to get out of the house. I'm going crazy. I need to do this. I need to do this. I know, but be smart. Be smart and engage what you're doing relative to everyone else and relative to the overall goal.
But I will tell you, and I don't know that people truly appreciated this. I don't know that I did. Of all the unique aspects that we have learned going through this, the most positive and the most surprising to me has been how people have responded. The policies that I have communicated are not worth the paper they are printed on. I could stand up here as governor and say we must do this, we must do this, we must do this. These are some of the most life-changing policies government has ever issued. Think about it. This is not government saying, here's your tax rate. Here's age of voting. This is government's saying, stay in your house don't touch another person, wear a mask. I don't even have the ability to enforce these measures on any scale if people said I'm not willing to do it.
So these policies, which are difficult, which are life-changing, they are being implemented by people because people are choosing to do the right thing. It is that simple. And what this is all about, today, the masks on transportation. I trust in New Yorkers. You know, I believe if the facts are presented to the people in this state, New Yorkers will do the right thing. What is the right thing? There's always a right thing. It is the appropriate path that is socially and morally correct. And New Yorkers have a very strong right thing quotient. They know what the right thing is when they hear it. And all I'm trying to do is give them the facts and the information to explain why I'm suggesting these actions. They decide whether or not to follow them. I can't put a mask on 17 million people. 17 million people will decide whether or not they'll do it. But they have done it because they have the facts, they have the information, they understand the risks, they understand the rewards, they understand the consequences, and what they have done has worked. And it's brought this state forward and it'll bring this nation forward. And that's New Yorkers at their best. And that's because we are New York tough. And because New York tough is more complex than the words suggest. It's smart. It's united. It's disciplined and it's loving. And New Yorkers have proven that, time and time again, every day for 46 days.
April 15, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Outlines Blueprint to Un-PAUSE New York. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-outlines-blueprint-un-pause-new-york
Blueprint Will Work to Control the Rate of Infection, Strengthen the Health Care System and Ramp Up Testing with Help from the Federal Government While Phasing an Economic Return to a "New Normal"
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today outlined a blueprint to un-pause New York, getting people back to work and easing social isolation without triggering renewed spread of the virus. The ultimate plan will be implemented in coordination with other states in the multi-state council.
Do No Harm - Step one is to continue controlling the rate of infection. This includes extending the NY Pause order until May 15th and implementing additional measures to reduce the rate of infection, including requiring masks in public when social distancing is not possible.
Strengthening the healthcare system - Step two is continuing the surge and flex strategy to ensure anyone who needs medical attention gets it, building out the strategic stockpile of PPE and other medical equipment, and sharing resources amongst states and localities.
Testing and Contact Tracing - The best tool to inform decisions and calibrate progress of any phased reopening of the economy is through both diagnostic and antibody testing. The states need the federal government to partner on this effort and bring it to the mass scale that is needed. With the help of an army of investigators, contact tracing needs to be done to help limit the virus spread.
Phased Return to "New Normal" -
Evaluating Risk by Industry: The 'Un-Pause NY' approach is designed to open businesses in phases of priority. Businesses considered "more essential" with inherent low risks of infection in the workplace and to customers will be prioritized, followed by other businesses considered "less essential" or those that present a higher risk of infection spread. As the infection rate declines, the pace of reopening businesses will be increased.
Precautions and Practices for businesses to consider to guide phased returnto "new normal":
Transport: Ensure employees have means for safe transport (i.e., masks, gloves for public transit) or require telecommuting/work from home.
Workplace: Ensure workplaces are designed to include social distancing measures (i.e., desks six feet apart, conference rooms redesigned), telecommuting for those who can and the most vulnerable
Customer Interaction: Ensure measures designed to ensure minimal contact with customers, ensure public-interacting employees have necessary protective supplies such as gloves, masks, etc.). Special precautions should be taken for businesses that primarily interact with the most vulnerable populations.
Proactive Infection Plan: Ensure protocols in place should an employee develop COVID-19 symptoms or test positive (i.e. work from home plan)
"Now that we've shown we can flatten the curve and our efforts to control the spread of the virus are working, we must focus on a smart, effective plan to un-pause New York," Governor Cuomo said. "The first part of the plan is to do no harm - don't let that infection rate go up to the best of your ability and don't lose the progress that we have made. Second, now that we have some stability in our health care system after a weeks-long overdrive, we continue to strengthen that system and ramp up testing and contact tracing to identify those who are sick and isolate them so they don't transmit the virus to others. Then we can focus on phasing an economic return to the new normal - but we need all those activities going on at the same time for our plan to un-pause New York to work."
April 17, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Directing All NYS Public and Private Labs to Coordinate with State DOH to Prioritize Diagnostic Testing. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-issues-executive-order-directing-all-nys-public
Part of State's Efforts to Ramp Up Testing, A Key Component of the Governor's Blueprint to Un-Pause New York
Reiterates Call for Federal Government to Provide Unrestricted Funding to States
Launches Awareness Campaign Encouraging Low-Income New Yorkers to Claim Their Economic Impact Payments Under the CARES Act
Confirms 7,358 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 229,642; New Cases in 50 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced he will issue an Executive Order directing all public and private labs in New York to coordinate with the State Department of Health to prioritize coronavirus diagnostic testing. This action is part of the State's efforts to ramp up testing, a key component of the Governor's blueprint to un-Pause New York. The Executive Order will help ensure the 301 laboratories and hospitals in the state that are licensed to perform virology operate in a coordinated fashion to overcome the testing challenges that every state in the nation is now facing.
The Governor also reiterated his call for the federal government to provide unrestricted funding to the states to help stabilize the economy and allow the states to perform reopening functions. The federal government has passed three bills to address this crisis, including the federal CARES Act, all of which contained zero funding to offset drastic state revenue shortfalls.
The Governor also launched an awareness campaign encouraging low-income New Yorkers to claim their Economic Impact Payments under the CARES Act. The Act provides $1,200 payments to individuals making below $75,000 and $2,400 payments to married couples making below $150,000. However, taxpayers will only receive their payments automatically if they filed 2018 or 2019 federal tax returns. Because the federal filing threshold is roughly $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples, hundreds of thousands of the lowest income New Yorkers who are not required to file returns will not receive their payments unless they provide their information to the IRS.
To support the Governor's awareness campaign, the Department of Taxation and Finance launched an Economic Impact Payment information: what you need to know web page and will do direct outreach to taxpayers who may not automatically receive the payments they're owed. The Tax Department will also partner with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, NYS Division of Veterans' Services, the Department of Labor and local community organizations to raise awareness and ensure action is taken by those who need this benefit most.
"As we work over the next several months to un-pause New York, the testing and tracing is going to be our guidepost," Governor Cuomo said. "No state is currently capable of doing the large-scale COVID testing that is needed. We have 300 laboratories and hospitals across the state that do virology testing and we must coordinate them to become one system -- like we did with the hospitals -- to get our testing capacity where it needs to be. I am going to issue an Executive Order that says the Department of Health will coordinate all of these labs so we can ramp up testing and get more people back to work."
As we work over the next several months to un-pause New York, the testing and tracing is going to be our guidepost.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Finally, the Governor confirmed 7,358 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 229,642 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 229,642 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
619
38
Allegany
29
1
Broome
178
11
Cattaraugus
34
2
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
25
1
Chemung
71
1
Chenango
76
3
Clinton
47
1
Columbia
101
2
Cortland
25
1
Delaware
48
1
Dutchess
2,142
57
Erie
1,929
79
Essex
15
3
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
27
2
Genesee
83
5
Greene
77
3
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
46
3
Jefferson
50
2
Lewis
8
0
Livingston
34
2
Madison
105
0
Monroe
975
43
Montgomery
33
1
Nassau
28,539
767
Niagara
227
11
NYC
127,352
4,206
Oneida
261
12
Onondaga
483
21
Ontario
67
2
Orange
6,084
196
Orleans
34
0
Oswego
45
1
Otsego
44
0
Putnam
578
5
Rensselaer
150
13
Rockland
8,987
235
Saratoga
236
5
Schenectady
250
5
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
6
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
96
3
Steuben
154
0
Suffolk
25,035
853
Sullivan
505
68
Tioga
30
3
Tompkins
117
1
Ulster
788
27
Warren
91
10
Washington
48
2
Wayne
49
0
Westchester
22,476
648
Wyoming
35
1
Yates
8
1
April 17, 2020.
Governors Renew Bipartisan Request for Fiscal Relief for States. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governors-renew-bipartisan-request-fiscal-relief-states
"The nation's governors continue to appreciate our collaboration with the federal government throughout this crisis. We have seen progress over the past several weeks with regards to some of our top needs, including ventilators and the availability of PPE and supplies. We are also grateful to the administration for expediting emergency funding through the CARES Act.
"We want to thank the president for committing to work with the governors. With the virus continuing to devastate our state economies, the governors have requested $500 billion to address revenue shortfalls. Without this relief, states will be confronted with the prospect of cuts to essential services. This will make it that much harder to have a strong economic recovery, which is a top priority for the president and for all of the governors.
"Now is not the time for partisanship. President Trump's leadership is needed to break the logjam in the Senate and get this done for the American people."
April 17, 2020.
Governors Renew Bipartisan Request for Fiscal Relief for States. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governors-renew-bipartisan-request-fiscal-relief-states
"The nation's governors continue to appreciate our collaboration with the federal government throughout this crisis. We have seen progress over the past several weeks with regards to some of our top needs, including ventilators and the availability of PPE and supplies. We are also grateful to the administration for expediting emergency funding through the CARES Act.
"We want to thank the president for committing to work with the governors. With the virus continuing to devastate our state economies, the governors have requested $500 billion to address revenue shortfalls. Without this relief, states will be confronted with the prospect of cuts to essential services. This will make it that much harder to have a strong economic recovery, which is a top priority for the president and for all of the governors.
"Now is not the time for partisanship. President Trump's leadership is needed to break the logjam in the Senate and get this done for the American people."
April 18, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Calls for Federal Coordination of Supply Chain to Bring Testing to Scale. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-calls-federal-coordination-supply-chain-bring
Issues Executive Order Allowing New Yorkers to Get a Marriage License Remotely
Reiterates Bipartisan Call from National Governors Association for $500 Billion in Federal Aid to States
Confirms 7,090 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 236,732; New Cases in 46 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today called for federal coordination of the supply chain to bring testing to scale so states can performing begin reopening functions. Tests are currently produced by private laboratory equipment manufacturers - there are 30 large manufacturers in the U.S. - and these manufacturers sell the tests to smaller labs, who then sell the tests to hospitals and the public. For a test to be performed, local labs must have the necessary testing chemicals known as reagents and there are different reagents for different manufacturer's tests. The state asked the top 50 labs in New York what they needed to double their testing output, and all said they needed more reagents.
The Governor is also issuing an Executive Order allowing New Yorkers to obtain a marriage license remotely and allowing clerks to perform ceremonies via video conference, a practice that is banned under current law. Many marriage bureaus have temporarily closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing New Yorkers from getting a marriage license during the current health emergency; the Executive Order will temporarily suspend a provision of law that requires in-person visits.
Governor Cuomo also reiterated the bipartisan call from the National Governors Association for the federal government to provide $500 billion in unrestricted aid to the states to help stabilize the economy and allow the states to perform reopening functions. The federal government has passed three bills to address this crisis, including the federal CARES Act, all of which contained zero funding to offset drastic state revenue shortfalls.
Why is testing so important? Testing is how you monitor the rate of infection and it's how we find people with the virus and trace their contacts,
Governor Cuomo
"Why is testing so important? Testing is how you monitor the rate of infection and it's how we find people with the virus and trace their contacts," Governor Cuomo said. "The challenge is to bring testing up to scale. We asked the top 50 labs in the state what they would need to double their testing, and they all said the same thing: they need more chemical reagents. We need the federal government to oversee the supply chain and help get labs what they need."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 7,090 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 236,732 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 236,732 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
648
29
Allegany
30
1
Broome
186
8
Cattaraugus
34
0
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
25
0
Chemung
72
1
Chenango
77
1
Clinton
48
1
Columbia
105
4
Cortland
25
0
Delaware
49
1
Dutchess
2,201
59
Erie
1,997
68
Essex
16
1
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
27
0
Genesee
87
4
Greene
82
5
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
47
1
Jefferson
50
0
Lewis
8
0
Livingston
37
3
Madison
105
0
Monroe
1,008
33
Montgomery
34
1
Nassau
29,180
641
Niagara
234
7
NYC
131,263
3,911
Oneida
268
7
Onondaga
492
9
Ontario
69
2
Orange
6,266
182
Orleans
41
7
Oswego
45
0
Otsego
47
3
Putnam
582
4
Rensselaer
164
14
Rockland
9,171
184
Saratoga
244
8
Schenectady
259
9
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
6
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
98
2
Steuben
160
6
Suffolk
26,143
1,108
Sullivan
524
19
Tioga
32
2
Tompkins
117
0
Ulster
820
32
Warren
94
3
Washington
52
4
Wayne
49
0
Westchester
23,179
703
Wyoming
36
1
Yates
9
1
April 18, 2020
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Calls for Federal Coordination of Supply Chain to Bring Testing to Scale. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-calls-federal
Issues Executive Order Allowing New Yorkers to Get a Marriage License Remotely
Reiterates Bipartisan Call from National Governors Association for $500 Billion in Federal Aid to States
Confirms 7,090 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 236,732; New Cases in 46 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "We need help on that supply chain, especially when it becomes international, and we need coordination and basic partnership. I get the state's role. We've been testing. ... I'm not asking for the federal government to come in and do any more than they need to do, but we do need their coordination and we do need their partnership."
Cuomo: "It gets very complicated very quickly because you have the national manufacturers who sold their machines to local labs. The local labs then need to go back to that manufacturer to run their tests. There's very little uniformity among the tests. You're trying to coordinate this whole private sector system."
Cuomo: "They have the test but they need the reagents to do a higher volume of tests. When you go back to the manufacturer and say why don't you distribute more reagents, they say one of two things. I can't get more reagents because they come from China ... We don't make them in the United States. Or they say the federal government is telling me who to distribute to."
Cuomo: "These manufacturers are regulated by the federal government and the federal government clearly has a role in addressing this crisis."
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo earlier today called for federal coordination of the supply chain to bring testing to scale so states can performing begin reopening functions. Tests are currently produced by private laboratory equipment manufacturers - there are 30 large manufacturers in the U.S. - and these manufacturers sell the tests to smaller labs, who then sell the tests to hospitals and the public. For a test to be performed, local labs must have the necessary testing chemicals known as reagents and there are different reagents for different manufacturer's tests. The state asked the top 50 labs in New York what they needed to double their testing output, and all said they needed more reagents.
The Governor is also issuing an Executive Order allowing New Yorkers to obtain a marriage license remotely and allowing clerks to perform ceremonies via video conference, a practice that is banned under current law. Many marriage bureaus have temporarily closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing New Yorkers from getting a marriage license during the current health emergency; the Executive Order will temporarily suspend a provision of law that requires in-person visits.
Governor Cuomo also reiterated the bipartisan call from the National Governors Association for the federal government to provide $500 billion in unrestricted aid to the states to help stabilize the economy and allow the states to perform reopening functions. The federal government has passed three bills to address this crisis, including the federal CARES Act, all of which contained zero funding to offset drastic state revenue shortfalls.
Finally, the Governor confirmed 7,090 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 236,732 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 236,732 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
648
29
Allegany
30
1
Broome
186
8
Cattaraugus
34
0
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
25
0
Chemung
72
1
Chenango
77
1
Clinton
48
1
Columbia
105
4
Cortland
25
0
Delaware
49
1
Dutchess
2,201
59
Erie
1,997
68
Essex
16
1
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
27
0
Genesee
87
4
Greene
82
5
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
47
1
Jefferson
50
0
Lewis
8
0
Livingston
37
3
Madison
105
0
Monroe
1,008
33
Montgomery
34
1
Nassau
29,180
641
Niagara
234
7
NYC
131,263
3,911
Oneida
268
7
Onondaga
492
9
Ontario
69
2
Orange
6,266
182
Orleans
41
7
Oswego
45
0
Otsego
47
3
Putnam
582
4
Rensselaer
164
14
Rockland
9,171
184
Saratoga
244
8
Schenectady
259
9
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
6
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
98
2
Steuben
160
6
Suffolk
26,143
1,108
Sullivan
524
19
Tioga
32
2
Tompkins
117
0
Ulster
820
32
Warren
94
3
Washington
52
4
Wayne
49
0
Westchester
23,179
703
Wyoming
36
1
Yates
9
1
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. Let's start with some indisputable facts today. Today is Saturday. That is a fact and it's indisputable. Somebody could dispute it but I will sand by that factual determination.
Hospitalization numbers are down - good news. We had been hovering around 18,000, then we went to 17,000 and we're now at 16,000 - almost 17,000 - but that is good news.
We're down now for several days. The statisticians will say are we past the apex? Have we hit the plateau and flattened for a period of time and are we now on the way off the plateau and on the descent? If you look at the past three days you could argue that we are past the plateau and we're starting to descent which would be very good news. Again, it's only three days but that's what the numbers would start to suggest and you see that basically across the board.
Hospitals will tell you that also the emergency rooms have fewer people in them. Remember they were at manic max capacity for a very long period of time. Remember we increased the hospital capacity by 50 percent so every hospital had 50 percent more and that capacity was overwhelmed which just reminds us of the job the hospitals have been doing.
But we see that in the numbers as well as what the hospitals are saying to us. You look at the three-day average which is more accurate. That is down. The ICU admissions, that I don't think is reflective of anything anymore but we continue to include it for some unknown reason, are also down.
The intimations are down which is very good news. Again, intubation means you've been put on a ventilator. Probability is about 80 percent that you won't come off the ventilator once you're put on a ventilator so that's very good news.
But sobering news on the other hand happy days are not here again. We still have about2,000 people yesterday who were new admissions to a hospital or new COVID diagnoses. That is still an overwhelming number every day - 2,000 new. If it wasn't for the relative context that we've been in this would be devastating news - 2,000 people coming into the hospital system or testing positive. And if you notice 2,000, we're not at the peakbut this is where we were just about in late March when it started to go up. So we're not at the plaza tower anymore but was still not in a good position.
The worst news is still tragic news - number of deaths 540. It's not as high as it was but still 540 people died yesterday. 540 people, 540 families. 504 in hospitals, 36 in nursing homes. Nursing homes are the single biggest fear in all of this - vulnerable people in one place. It is the feeding frenzy for this virus despite everything we can do in the best efforts of people working in those nursing homes who are doing just a fantastic job.
Testing. Testing is the single most important topic for us to understand I think and it's important that we understand it. I spoke to one of my daughters last night who shall go nameless but she said to me, why do they all talking about testing? Which was sort of sobering. I think I'm communicating information and facts and my daughters are probably some of the most informed people on the situation given the hardship they endure being my daughters during this period of time. And she was like, I don't understand all of this about testing, which is again, it's a wakeup call to me. I think we're communicating. I think we're putting out this information. But you know people have lives to live even in this crazy time. But for me the best thing I can do in my position is to communicate facts to people so they have the information to make decisions. That's what I've been trying to do since day one. Here's the information, here are the facts, you decide, and I'll tell you what. I think the course of conduct should be given these facts, but here are the facts right before you tell me what you think. Just tell me the facts and then we'll get to your personal interpretation of the facts.
So facts on testing, because it is granular and it is a little boring, but it's also vitally important. Testing is how you monitor the rate of infection and you control for it and that is the whole tension in reopening. Everybody wants to reopen. You don't need to hold up a placard saying we want to reopen. Nobody wants to reopen more than me. Nobody wants to get the economy going more than me. Nobody wants to get on with life more than me and everybody else. We're all in the same boat. We all have the same feelings.
The tension on reopening is how fast can you reopen and what can you reopen without raising that infection rate so you go right back to where we were overwhelming the hospitals? The infection rate now is one person infects .9 other people. You can't infect .9but it's basically one person is infecting one person. A tad less - and I don't even know if it's a tad less because I don't even know that the statistics are that accurate frankly.
So let's say one person now infects one person. That's where we are now. When that is happening the virus is basically stable. Where we were was one person was infecting 1.4 people and that's when you have outbreak widespread epidemic. We brought it down from 1.4 to .9. How did you do that? Those were the New York Pause policies. Close down business, close down schools, everybody has to social distance, everybody has to take precautions, masks, et cetera. But it worked and we went from 1.4 to .9. Wuhan says at one point they got down to .3 which is where you really start to see the numbers drop. But that's where we are.
The tension is when you start to open business you start to have gatherings, you put people on a bus, you put people on the subway, you put people in a retail store. Then you're going to see more infections. You see that infection rate rise and then you're going to be back to where we were. So how do you gauge this, right? How do you calibrate it?
That is all about the testing. And you have a very tight window. You're at .9 now. You can only go up to 1.2 before you see those hospitalization numbers start taking off again. You're talking about a very, very tight window that you have to calibrate and this is all without precedent so how do you actually do that intelligently? Well, you have to test and testing informs the calibration.
What is testing? Testing is you test. You test the person to see whether they are positive or negative for the coronavirus. There is also something called antibody testing but let's put that aside for a second. On the diagnostic testing, positive or negative, you test the person.
When you find a person who is positive you then trace. Trace, they call them detectives. You find the person and then you interview that person and find our who they came in contact and you follow that tree down. That's testing and that's tracing, when they talk about tracing.
Trace all those contacts and then you find the people who are positive. You isolate the positive people so they can't continue to spread.
Tracing requires an army. Literally an army. You would need thousands of people who just trace in the State of New York because any one person then leads to 10, 20 possible people who were infected. You have to trace all through those people. You find the positive person, you isolate them. The trick with testing is not that we don't know how to do it. We've done it better in this state than almost any other state, almost any other country. It's bringing this up to scale. These are private sector companies that are doing this. We have done a very good job in testing. The state has played a pivotal role in testing.
You look at New York and the number of tests we do. It's more than California, it's more than any other state. It's more than any other country. We have had great success in ramping up testing. We know how to do it. We know how important it is. We had that hot spot in New Rochelle, Westchester. It was the hottest cluster in the United States of America. We jumped on it and we jumped on it with intense testing and it worked. We still have an issue, but it's no longer a hotspot cluster because you do a lot of testing, you take the positives and you isolate them. The challenge is now bringing this up to scale. We did 500,000 tests in a month. That's great news. Bad news is it's only a fraction of what you need. The more you test, the more information, the more you can open society.
How does testing actually work? This, again, you have to know the facts otherwise this is all a blur and it becomes a he said, she said. There are about 30 private companies, large private companies in the country that are even international. Thirty large companies make equipment to test and they all have their own test. You have the ACME test, the this test, the this test, the this test. Well, those 30 companies have been selling their machines to local laboratories and that's their business. They make a machine, Roesch makes a machine. They then sell it to people. You have to buy their machine and they then sell these local labs their testing protocol because their test works on their machine. You buy the Roesch machine, you then have to buy the Roesch test from the Roesch Corporation. You buy the ACME machine, you then have to buy the ACME test from the ACME Corporation. They sell these tests to local labs.
We have about 300 local labs in our state who have bought these 30 types of manufacturers and 30 types of tests. Then every time the lab goes to run that test, if I'm running the ACME test, I have to have the ACME equipment and the ACME vial and the the ACME swab and the ACME reagents. What are reagents? When you take the swab, nasal swab, throat swab, you then test it with other chemicals. The other chemicals are reagents. Depending on what test you bought, they have their own reagents for every test. The ACME test has one set of reagents. The Roesch test has another set of reagents and you have to go back to them to buy these reagents. That's the basic chain. It gets very complicated very quickly because you have the national manufacturers who sold their machines to local labs. The local labs then need to go back to that manufacturer to run their tests. There's very little uniformity among the tests. You're trying to coordinate this whole private sector system. We have some public labs, the state has a Wadsworth Lab, but the real capacity is in these private labs.
So how do you bring this up to scale and how do you cut to the chase on this one? We called the top fifty producing labs in the state and said tell us what it takes to double your output, okay. And this is literally what they said. So there's no interpretation here. Most of them come back.
Sometimes they talk about the equipment, nasal swab, vial. But what you see is most of them are talking about, we can't get the reagents. We can't get these other chemicals that we need to test. Where do they get the reagents from? Their manufacturer who made the machine in the first place, okay. And they all say with the machines we bought we could actually be doing more if they would give us the reagents. That's the logjam that we are in. They bought the machine. They have the machine. They have the test but they need the reagents to do a higher volume of tests. When you go back to the manufacturer and say why don't you distribute more reagents, they say one of two things. I can't get more reagents because they come from China, they come from here, they come from here. We don't make them in the United States. Or they say the federal government is telling me who to distribute to.
And this is why I say you have the federal government involved in this situation, rightfully so, because the federal government is saying to Acme pharmaceutical, give X to California, give Y to Chicago, give Z to New York. These manufacturers are regulated by the federal government and the federal government clearly has a role in addressing this crisis. But, we need two things from the federal government. We need help on that supply chain, especially when it becomes international, and we need coordination and basic partnership. I get the state's role. We've been testing. I get this is hard. I get that it's difficult. I get that it's never going to be perfect. I get in this society there's going to be a blame game, and everyone's going to say, why didn't we have enough testing? It's the feds, it's the state. That's going to happen anyway, right. That's the world we live in. And I'm not asking for the federal government to come in and do any more than they need to do, but we do need their coordination and we do need their partnership.
And we also need from the federal government, we need funding. I get that we have to fund airlines. We have to fund this business. We have to fund small businesses. I agree a hundred percent, but you also have to fund state governments. And by the way, when you fund the state government, you're not funding a private business. We're not an airline. So you don't have an issue of should government really be giving tax dollars to this private entity. When you fund the state government you just are funding a state government to perform the functions you want us to perform, which is the reopening function. I get it. I'll do it. But I need funding. And when you fund a state government, you're funding small businesses anyway, and you're funding hospitals anyway, and you're funding schools anyway. And you know, the Republican doctrine used to be limited government and states' rights. I'm a good distribution mechanism to small businesses and hospitals and schools because I know what's going on in the state. But if you want to us reopen, we need funding.
National Governors Association is highly relevant because this is now all up to the governors. The National Governors Association is bipartisan. The chairman is a republican. I'm the vice chairman, I'm a Democrat. I'm the incoming chair person. We did a press release yesterday saying we need funding in this next bill. We need $500 billion for the states so we can do this reopening. Federal government yesterday sent 1.5 million cloth masks to New York State and I want to thank them for that. These are cloth masks that we can distribute to people to help implement our policy where if you're in public you have to wear a mask. It's not a surgical mask. It's a cloth mask manufactured by the Hanes corporation I believe. But we're asking people to wear masks. And this is going to be very helpful because we're going to have additional masks to distribute to the public.
Last point, personal opinion. This is not a fact. It's just my opinion. You can throw it in the garbage. The emotion in this country is as high as I can recall, people are frustrated, we're anxious, scared, we're angry. We've never been through this before and on every level this is a terrible experience. It's disorienting, it threatens you to your core. It makes you reflect on your whole life and it really has -- it's mentally very difficult, it's emotionally difficult, economically, it's disastrous. I mean the market goes down. Your retirement funds go down. You're not getting a paycheck. It is as tumultuous at times as we have ever seen. But in the midst of this, there is no time for politics.
How does the situation get worse, it gets worse quickly? If you politicize all that emotion. We cannot go there. That's why I work so hard when anyone raises any political agenda to me. I work so hard to distance myself from it. I'm not running for anything. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be governor of the state of New York until the people kick me out and then I'm going to go spend time with my family and that's that.
So, I have no political agenda and I've stayed a hundred miles away from politics, just so people know that there is no possibility of a political distortion here. Because it's no time for politics and look if you have partisan divisions splitting this nation now it's going to make it worse. Abraham Lincoln, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," 1858.Where did Abraham Lincoln get it from? If a house is divided against itself, the house cannot stand, Mark 3:25. So, this is an accepted wisdom letter say, house cannot stand, not to mention the house cannot rise up from the greatest challenge it has seen since World War II. This is no time and no place for division. We have our hands full as it is. Let's just stay together and let's work it through and that's why we're called the United States, right? And the unity was key going back to Abraham Lincoln, it was always about the unity going back to the framers of the Constitution, was always balance of power to ensure unity and we need that unity now more than ever before.
April 18, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo, Governor Murphy, Governor Lamont Announce Alignment of State Policies for Marinas and Boatyards. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-governor-murphy-governor-lamont-announce
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont today announced marinas, boatyards and marine manufacturers will be allowed to open for personal use as long as strict social distancing and sanitization protocols are followed. Chartered watercraft services or rentals will not be allowed, and restaurant activity at these sites must be limited to take-out or delivery only, like anywhere else in the three states. This announcement aligns the policies of the three states on this particular service.
"Throughout this pandemic, we've worked closely with our friends in neighboring states to implement a uniform regional approach to reducing the spread of the virus," Governor Cuomo said. "Aligning our polices in this area is another example of that strong partnership, and will help ensure there is no confusion or 'state shopping' when it comes to marinas and boatyards."
"We've committed to working with our regional partners throughout this crisis to align our policies when and where appropriate," said Governor Murphy. "A unified approach is the most effective way to alleviate confusion for the residents of our states during the ongoing public health emergency."
"Our states share workforces, resources, public transit, and we all have share a connection on the water," Governor Lamont said. "This is yet another example of how our states have shared interests, which is all the more reason to collaborate on these kinds of decisions. This decision provides uniformity across our marinas."
April 19, 2020
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces Statewide Antibody Testing Survey Will Begin Tomorrow https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-announces-statewide-antibody-testing-survey-will
Large-Scale Antibody Testing Will Help Determine What Percentage of the Population is Now Immune to the Virus and Help Get More People Back to Work
State Will Continue Working with the Federal Government to Assist with the Supply Chain and Coordinate Private Labs to Ramp Up Diagnostic Testing
Announces State is Ready to Transport 400 Ventilators to Massachusetts if Needed
Expands Executive Order to Allow Any Authorized Officiant to Perform Marriage Ceremonies Using Online Video Technology
Confirms 6,054 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 242,786; New Cases in 46 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the State Department of Health will begin to conduct a statewide antibody testing survey tomorrow. The testing survey will sample 3,000 people for a population of 19.5 million people - for context Germany performed a 3,000-person sample with a population of 83 million. Large-scale antibody testing will help determine the percentage of the population that is now immune to the virus, allowing more individuals to safely return to work.
Governor Cuomo also announced the state will continue working with the federal government to assist with the supply chain and coordinate private labs to ramp up diagnostic testing, another key component of getting people back to work and restarting the economy.
The Governor also announced the state is ready to transport 400 ventilators to Massachusetts within 24 hours if they are needed.
The Governor also will sign an Executive Order allowing any authorized officiant to perform marriage ceremonies using online video technology. Yesterday, the Governor issued an Executive Order allowing New Yorkers to obtain a marriage license remotely and allowing clerks to perform ceremonies via video conference, a practice that is banned under current law. Many marriage bureaus have temporarily closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing New Yorkers from getting a marriage license during the current health emergency; yesterday's Executive Order temporarily suspends a provision of law that requires in-person visits.
Any plan to start to reopen the economy has to be based on data and testing, and we have to make sure our antibody and diagnostic testing is up to the scale we need so we can safely get people back to work
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
"Any plan to start to reopen the economy has to be based on data and testing, and we have to make sure our antibody and diagnostic testing is up to the scale we need so we can safely get people back to work," Governor Cuomo said. "We are going to start antibody testing across the state tomorrow - and we are going to do that in the most aggressive way in the nation. This will be the first true snapshot of exactly how many people were infected by COVID-19 and where we are as a population and will help us to reopen and rebuild without jeopardizing what we've already accomplished."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 6,054 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 242,786 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 242,786 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
682
34
Allegany
30
0
Broome
192
6
Cattaraugus
34
0
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
25
0
Chemung
73
1
Chenango
78
1
Clinton
49
1
Columbia
107
2
Cortland
25
0
Delaware
49
0
Dutchess
2,240
39
Erie
2,070
73
Essex
18
2
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
27
0
Genesee
117
30
Greene
85
3
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
49
2
Jefferson
54
4
Lewis
8
0
Livingston
39
2
Madison
106
1
Monroe
1,032
24
Montgomery
35
1
Nassau
30,013
833
Niagara
246
12
NYC
134,436
3,173
Oneida
275
7
Onondaga
498
6
Ontario
70
1
Orange
6,379
113
Orleans
46
5
Oswego
47
2
Otsego
48
1
Putnam
592
10
Rensselaer
173
9
Rockland
9,364
193
Saratoga
251
7
Schenectady
268
9
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
6
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
105
7
Steuben
167
7
Suffolk
26,888
745
Sullivan
537
13
Tioga
35
3
Tompkins
117
0
Ulster
854
34
Warren
96
2
Washington
63
11
Wayne
50
1
Westchester
23,803
624
Wyoming
36
0
Yates
9
0
April 19, 2020.
Governor Cuomo, Governor Murphy, Governor Lamont, Governor Wolf, Governor Carney, Governor Raimondo and Governor Baker Announce Appointees to Multi-state Council to Get People Back to Work and Restore the Economy. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-governor-murphy-governor-lamont-governor-wolf-governor-carney-governor-raimond-0
Appointees Include One Health Expert, One Economic Development Expert and Respective Chiefs of Staff from Each State
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Delaware Governor John Carney, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker today announced their appointees to the multi-state council to restore the economy and get people back to work. The appointees include one health expert, one economic development expert and the respective Chief of Staff from each state.
The appointees from each state include:
New York
Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governor
Robert Mujica, Director of NYS Division of the Budget
Michael Dowling, President and CEO, Northwell Health
New Jersey
George Helmy, Chief of Staff to the Governor
Dr. Richard Besser, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Jeh Johnson, former United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama
Connecticut
Paul Mounds, Jr., Chief of Staff in the Office of the Governor
Indra Nooyi, Co-chair of the nonprofit organization AdvanceCT and former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
Dr. Albert Ko, Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine and department chair at the Yale School of Public Health
Pennsylvania
Michael Brunelle, Chief of Staff, Office of the Governor
Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, Department of Health
Secretary Dennis Davin, Department of Community and Economic Development
Delaware
Sheila Grant, Chief of Staff, Office of Governor
Dr. Kara Odom Walker, Secretary, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services
Kurt Foreman, President and CEO, Delaware Prosperity Partnership
Rhode Island
David Ortiz, Chief of Staff to the Governor
Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health
Stefan Pryor, Rhode Island Commerce Secretary
Massachusetts
Kristen Lepore, Chief of Staff
Michael Kennealy, Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Lauren Peters, Undersecretary at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services
"We have been collaborating closely with our neighboring states to combat this pandemic through a uniform approach to social distancing and density reduction and it has been working well. Now it is time to start opening the valve slowly and carefully while watching the infection rate meter so we don't trigger a second wave of new infections," Governor Cuomo said. "This is not a light switch that we can just flick on and everything goes back to normal - we have to come up with a smart, consistent strategy to restart the systems we shut down and get people back to work, and to the extent possible we want to do that through a regional approach because we are a regional economy. New York is partnering with these five states to create a multi-state council that will come up with a framework based on science and data to gradually ease the stay at home restrictions and get our economy back up and running."
Governor Phil Murphy said, "No one has given more thought or is more eager to restart our economy than I am, but if we don't get the sequencing right, we put more lives at risk. The only path to a sustainable economic recovery is through a strong healthcare recovery. Then, and only then, do we position ourselves to fully ignite our economy and get the residents of our state back to work while minimizing the danger of this disease. A coordinated, regional approach, informed by a multi-state council of experts, will help us avoid a major setback with potentially disastrous consequences. I look forward to the day when the facts on the ground allow us to ease our restrictions and move our regional economy forward."
Governor Ned Lamont said, "One thing that's undeniable is that this virus does not stop at the border of any county, state, or country, but the impact is the same when it comes to our respective economies and healthcare systems. Working as a regional coalition to make the right decisions will lead to the best public health results for all of our residents. We must solve these problems together."
Governor Tom Wolf said, "Our highest priority remains protecting the health and safety of Pennsylvanians. While my administration continues to take critical steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, I also recognize that we must look ahead and take a measured, careful approach to prepare for the future while ensuring that we don't undo all of our efforts. Pennsylvania will work collaboratively with our partners both in state and in surrounding states to develop a comprehensive strategy that first focuses on health but also addresses the need to gradually restore our economy."
Governor John Carney said, "We still have a situation in Delaware that is getting worse. Infections of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are rising. Delawareans should stay home. Don't go out in public unnecessarily. Don't visit Delaware unless you need to see a doctor, or care for a family member. You'll only increase everyone's risk. At the same time, we need to look forward. We need a consistent approach for moving our states out of this crisis, when that day comes. I'm grateful for the partnership of my fellow Governors in the region. They are all working around-the-clock to prevent surges in COVID-19 cases, protect hospital capacity for the most critically-ill patients, and save lives. We'll get through this by working together."
Governor Gina Raimondo said, "States are taking the lead as we fight to slow the spread of coronavirus and save lives. I'm proud of the steps we've taken, and I'm constantly thinking about what it will take to safely reopen our economy. But we know that this virus does not recognize borders, and it's clear we need a strong, coordinated regional approach to avoid a second wave of this disease. I'm grateful to my fellow governors for their leadership during this crisis and I'm confident that this new partnership will support our efforts to get Rhode Islanders -- and all Americans -- back to work safely."
Governor Charlie Baker said, "The Baker-Polito Administration looks forward to participating in discussions with neighboring states and experts regarding the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Massachusetts also remains focused on efforts to expand testing, ensure hospital capacity and provide the necessary PPE to those on the front lines to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities."
April 19, 2020.
B-Roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces Statewide Antibody Testing Survey Will Begin Tomorrow. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/b-roll-video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo
Large-Scale Antibody Testing Will Help Determine What Percentage of the Population is Now Immune to the Virus and Help Get More People Back to Work
State Will Continue Working with the Federal Government to Assist with the Supply Chain and Coordinate Private Labs to Ramp Up Diagnostic Testing
Announces State is Ready to Transport 400 Ventilators to Massachusetts if Needed
Expands Executive Order to Allow Any Authorized Officiant to Perform Marriage Ceremonies Using Online Video Technology
Prior to Today's Briefing, Governor Cuomo Took A Tour of the Northwell Testing Laboratory
Confirms 6,054 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 242,786; New Cases in 46 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "We are going to sample people in this state, thousands of people in this state, across the state to find out if they have the antibodies. That will tell us, for the first time, what percent of the population actually has had the coronavirus and is now at least short-term immune to the virus. This will be the first, true snapshot of what we are really dealing with."
Governor Cuomo: "I want to thank the other states and communities who we put out a call for help, and we got help from all across the country. It reminds me in that post-9/11 time when we needed help, and other communities in the northeast needed help, and people came from all across the nation, and they just wanted to help, and they just showed up. That's what happened here. And that, when I talk about seeing the best and the worst in people at a time of crisis, that outpouring of generosity, I'm sure you felt the same, gave us such a sense of confidence that we're not in it alone, and humanity and the love of the American people was there for us.And we will be there when anyone needs us. Right now, our neighbors in Massachusetts are looking at an increase in cases.and I said you were there for us, and we're going to be there for you. If they need 400 ventilators, we've already identified them, and we will bring them over on 24 hours notice."
Governor Cuomo: "Government matters today in a way it has not mattered in decades. And it is important that government sends the right signal and one message and there is no confusion. Because if people don't have confidence in government right now, if they think there is chaos or confusion or politics, that would be a terrible message to send. We have done a great job as government officials - all of us - Democrat, Republican, state, local. We have to keep doing it."
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the State Department of Health will begin to conduct a statewide antibody testing survey tomorrow. The testing survey will sample 3,000 people for a population of 19.5 million people - for context Germany performed a 3,000-person sample with a population of 83 million. Large-scale antibody testing will help determine the percentage of the population that is now immune to the virus, allowing more individuals to safely return to work.
B-ROLL of the Governor's tour of Northwell Health's testing lab prior to today's press briefing is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for being here today. I want to thank our host very much, Northwell. Michael Dowling, to my left, is head of Northwell. They've done an extraordinary job all through this situation. They have an extraordinary leader in Michael Dowling. Michael Dowling ran health care for the State of New York, health services for the State of New York. He worked with my father. Came for one year, wound up staying with my father for 12 years in State service. He's one of the really beautiful and brilliant leaders in this State. It's a pleasure to be with him. I want to say to all the people ofNorthwell who have done extraordinary jobs, thank you so, so much. Thank you for having us today.
To my right is Melissa DeRosa, she is the Secretary to the Governor. To her right is - what's your name, young lady? - Mariah Kennedy-Cuomo, who is part of my team and it's a pleasure to have her with me today. I'll mention more about that in a second.
Today is Sunday, that is a fact. I know these days tend to run one into the other, but today is Sunday. I like to focus on the facts in this situation because facts are what's most important. A lot of people have opinions and a lot of theories, but Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was a great Senator from the State of New York, liked to say, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." So let's give the people of the State the updated facts.
This is the state of hospitalizations. We've been watching this 24-hours a day for it seems like most of our lives, but it's only been about 40 days. The total hospitalization rate is down again in the State of New York. We're down to 16,000. If you look at the numbers, we were at 18,000 people hospitalized for a period of time. It flattened there for a while, it paused there. Then it went down to 17,000 but this is a low from our high point of 18,000.
Big question of whether we've been past the apex, past the high point and it turned out the high point wasn't a point. The high point was a plateau and we got up to a high point and then we just stayed at that level for a while. If the data holds and if this trend holds, we are past the high point and all indications at this point that we are in a descent. Whether or not the descent continues depends on what we do, but right now we are on a descent. That's in all the numbers. The hospitalization numbers are down. The 3-day average of the hospitalization rate is down. I was speaking to Michael and that's what he's seeing in his hospital system in emergency rooms across the state are saying. They see the maximum inflow is less than what it was. That all tracks with what the numbers are saying.
This number of intubations, which I watch carefully because intubations are the number of people who are put on ventilators and 80 percent of the people who are put on ventilators don't make it. This is a very important chart to look at and the fact that those numbers are down is very important.
This is a reality check. With all the good news in the reductions, we still have 1,300 people that yesterday came in and tested positive and were hospitalized. Thirteen hundred is a lot of people coming into the hospital system with that diagnosis. Less than it had been, so that's good news, but it is still 1,300 people who are testing positive and need hospitalization.
We've been watching the spread of the virus from the New York City area. There have been little outbursts on Long Island and upstate New York and we've been jumping on those outbursts. Overall, we have controlled it and the numbers are about the same. Westchester and Rockland where we had real problems. Remember, the first problem was in Westchester County, New Rochelle. Westchester County and Rockland, Long Island, Upstate New York is now only about 7 percent of the cases. We're watching for a potential spread in other parts of the state, but so far we have contained it and we have controlled it.
Nursing homes are still our number one concern. The nursing home is the optimum feeding ground for this virus. Vulnerable people in a congregant facility, in a congregant setting where it can just spread like fire through dry grass. We have had really disturbing situations in nursing homes and we're still most concerned about the nursing homes.
The worst news of all for us to live with every day and an everyday tragedy, we lost another 507 New Yorkers. Those are not just very large numbers we see deaths. Every number is a face and a family and a brother and a sister, mother and a father. People are in pain today and will be in pain for a long period of time. We remember them in our thoughts and prayers.
On this Sunday, a day of reflection, thank you from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of all New Yorkers, for what the people at Northwell have done, the entire team. Talk about team effort, this is the team effort. And to all of our health care workers all across this state, 1 million health care workers, 445,000 hospital workers, 160,000 nursing home workers, they have made all the difference in the world. You know, a crisis like this, it tends to bring out the best and the worst in people. And certain people can break your heart in their response to this. But on the other hand, other people can rise to the occasion and give you such a sense of confidence in the human spirit, and the healthcare workers have done that.
I've been looking at this chart for 40 days and it looks like a bar chart, it looks like numbers and a line. I don't see it as a bar chart as we've been going through this. To me, it was a mountain that just kept building, and building, and building, and you didn't know where the top of the mountain was. And those numbers kept growing and we kept going up the mountain and we kept wondering where is the peak, where is the apex, what is the high point, when does this stop, and we get to the top of the mountain and by the way it's not a point. And then it plateaus, and it plateaus at a very, very high rate, which means every day those health care workers have to come in and they're seeing a tremendous number of people come in the door, overwhelming the capacity of the hospital. And remember, we asked hospitals to increase their capacity 50 percent. So if a hospital had a 100-bed capacity, now they had a 150-bed capacity. And it stuck at that very high level on that plateau, and it was day after day after day. People who were at their max and had given it all. And the next day, it's the same thing all over again. But they did it, they got us through the plateau, and now they are getting us down the other side, and we just pray to God it remains down on the other side.
So this has been a lot of pain and a lot of anguish for a lot of people. But the skill, the courage and the love of our health care workers, of our first responders, of our police, of our essential workers, they have really gotten us through all of this. We also want to thank our neighbors. 95,000 medical professionals who agreed to help in this state and outside of this state, who said they would come and help us. And I want to thank the other states and communities who we put out a call for help, and we got help from all across the country. It reminds me in that post-9/11 time when we needed help, and other communities in the northeast needed help, and people came from all across the nation, and they just wanted to help, and they just showed up. That's what happened here. And that, when I talk about seeing the best and the worst in people at a time of crisis, that outpouring of generosity, I'm sure you felt the same, gave us such a sense of confidence that we're not in it alone, and humanity and the love of the American people was there for us. And I said we need your help today, but New Yorkers also never forget. And thank you for the help, and we will be there when you need us. And we will be there when anyone needs us.
Right now, our neighbors in Massachusetts are looking at an increase in cases. I spoke to Governor Charlie Baker yesterday. They may need 400 ventilators and we know how important ventilators are. If their numbers keep going up and they have to scramble, and I said you were there for us, and we're going to be there for you. If they need 400 ventilators, we've already identified them, and we will bring them over on 24 hours notice. And we wish them well, and anything they need, we're going to be there.
So the recent news is good. We are on the other side of the plateau and the numbers are coming down. But, that's good news only compared to the terrible news that we were living with, which is that constant increase. And remember, you still have 1,300 people who walked into the hospitals yesterday testing positive. So, it's no time to get cocky and it's no time to get arrogant, right? We still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do. And this virus has been ahead of us every step of the way. We've been playing catch-up from day one in this situation. So it is no time to relax. And this is only halftime in this entire situation. We showed that we can control the beast and when you close down, you can actually slow that infection rate, but it is only halftime. We have to make sure we keep that beast under control, we keep that infection rate down, we keep that hospitalization rate down as we now all get very eager to get on with life and move on. So, it's not over.
We have a whole second phase and in this second phase, first, do no harm. Don't jeopardize what you've already accomplished by seeing that infection rate increase. We have to be smarter, especially when it comes to the new frontier of testing and how we test and how aggressively and how we get that organized. And then when we talk about rebuilding, we have to talk about not just rebuilding, but let's learn from this horrific experience. Let's take these lessons forward and how do we build back better than before? I don't want to have on all through this and then just say we are reopening. No, we have to open for a better future than we have ever had. And we have to learn from this. As we go through this, I know people are eager to get on with life. We have slowed the infection rate down to .9 percent. 0.9 percent means one person infects .9 percent of a person, less than one. That means the virus is slowing. If one person is infecting 1.2 people, the virus is increasing and is an epidemic and an outbreak and is out of control.
So, we have a very small margin of error here, as we navigate going forward. Any plan that is going to start to reopen the economy has to be based on data, and that means it has to be based on testing. This is a new world for all of us. How do you get testing up to scale? How do you get it up to scale quickly and how do you find out where we really are right now in terms of this virus? You have all these scientists and experts who are basically trying to extrapolate from the data, but we don't really know how any people were infected. How many people had coronavirus but self-resolved? We don't really know, because we haven't been able to do testing on that large a scale. But we are going to start, we are going to start here in the State of New York with antibody testing.
Antibody testing means you test the person to find out if they have the antibodies if they were infected with the coronavirus. We are going to do that in the most aggressive way in the nation. We are going to sample people in this state, thousands of people in this state, across the state to find out if they have the antibodies. That will tell us, for the first time, what percent of the population actually has had the coronavirus and is now at least short-term immune to the virus. This will be the first, true snapshot of what we are really dealing with. We are going to be doing that over the next week and the New York State Department of Health will be running that. There's also another set of test that are called diagnostic testing.
Diagnostic testing is whether a person is positive or negative. We are coming up to scale on this, even though it is very, very hard. Northwell is leading the parade on this and I just looked at some of the technology they are bringing in. All of these different manufacturers who make different machines to run different tests and it's a number of big manufacturers.Northwell is bringing in as many as they can, but this has to be brought to scale. Nobody has done testing at this level ever. We have to do this in partnership with the federal government, because there are all sorts of logistical questions and supply chain questions and people can't get certain chemicals they need to do tests and the chemicals are made in other countries. So, we have to do this with the federal government.
I spoke to the head of the CDC yesterday and he was very smart and very informed. We talked about how we can do this together. Talk about being smart, the federal government is talking about passing another piece of legislation which would help in the reopening. They want to help small businesses, and that is great. They also have to help a governments and local governments, which have not been supported in previous legislation. Everyone is saying, "It is up to the states to come up with a reopening plan, it's up to the governors, it's up to the governors."
Fine. That is true, and right, and legal. But the governors in the state have to have resources. And yes, you have to help small businesses, you have to help the airlines, all of these private sector interests as well as citizens. But if you don't help the state government and local government, then how are we supposed to have the finances to reopen? If you don't give state and local government support, we are the ones who support the schools, we support the police, we support the fire, we support the hospital workers, we support the transit workers.
So, if you starve state and local government, all that means is we have to turn around and reduce funding to the people who we are funding. If we don't get federal assistance, you are looking at education cuts of close to 50 percent in the State of New York, where school districts would only get half of the aid they got from the state last year. You are talking about cuts to hospitals from the State. I mean, how ludicrous would it be to now cut hospital funding from state governments? So, the governors, bipartisan, Democrat and Republican, in this crazy and political environment where you can get Democrats and Republicans to agree on anything, all the governors agree and have said to Washington, "Make sure you fun the states in any next bill you pass."
And we asked for $500 billion. Again on a nonpartisan basis. We also must remember as we go forward what we have done so well thus far. The mutuality and discipline that we have shown. I have many school districts in the state, over 700 school districts. They are calling saying they want to open up their local schools. They want to make these decisions. Local officials are calling, we have beaches, we have parks, we have businesses, we want to make the decisions. I understand the pressure that the local school districts are under. I understand the pressure that the local officials are under. I understand the mounting political pressure. You know, people see those numbers come down, they are like, OK, let's go. Let me get out of my house. I get it. But, we have to stay smart and we have to stay united.
Now is no time, as I said, to get arrogant. We are working with our regional states, our partners, New Jersey, Connecticut, etc., the surrounding states. We are coordinating with them and we have to continue to do that. The weather is getting warmer, the numbers are coming down, cabin fever is getting worse. I believe that is going to be a documented disease when this is over, cabin fever. But we have to stay smart and we have to stay coordinated. We have been working with New Jersey and Connecticut because whatever one state does affects other states, right? You live in Nassau, Suffolk, New York City, you can get in your car and be in New Jersey, you can be in Connecticut in a matter of minutes.
So, it is very important to plan accordingly. It is not that we can be on the same page on everything, but at least let's know what each other is doing. For example, on state parks, we are coordinating what our policies are because you can see people go from one state to another. I was in Albany yesterday, talked to a couple who drove up from Queens for Thai food to Albany. And I said, you came up for Thai food from Queens? That is a two and a half hour ride. They said yeah, we just had to get out of the house. I said, just for Thai food? Queens, they have good Thai food. I'm from Queens. It just shows how people need to get out and do something. So, we get it. New York State parks are open, New Jersey they are closed, Connecticut, they are open. New York, our beaches are closed, in New Jersey, the state beaches are closed, some of the local beaches are open, Connecticut, they are open. Connecticut marinas are open and New Jersey and New York also. Staying coordinated with our partners is very important and it is important within the state also.
I get the political pressure that everybody is under. I get the political pressure that local officials are under. But we have to be smart and we have to be coordinated. People have to have the best government from government officials in the State of New York. Government matters today in a way it has not mattered in decades. And it is important that government sends the right signal and one message and there is no confusion. Because if people don't have confidence in government right now, if they think there is chaos or confusion or politics, that would be a terrible message to send. We have done a great job as government officials - all of us - Democrat, Republican, state, local. We have to keep doing it. And now is not the time to send mixed messages. And also on a very parochial level, I get that in the conversations I've had people feel political pressure. Hear is the simple answer. The State's emergency powers now govern in this emergency. Blame me. Blame me. Somebody's complaining about a beach, somebody's complaining about whatever, businesses open, schools open, blame me. It's true. It's right. It's the state law and I don't have any issue with that. So blame me.
Also, as we are planning the reopening, let's set the bar a little higher. Let's all start to think about this now. What did we learn during this? Personally, what did we learn? Socially, what did we learn? Collectively, what did we learn? And how do we incorporate that into our reopening? How do we have a better health care system when we reopen? How do we have a better transportation system, better telecommuting, a smarter telemedicine program? Better technology and education? How do we have more social equity?
You can see the disparate effect of this disease and how it reinforced the disparity in the inequity in society. How do we remedy that? And how are we more cohesive as a community for having gone through this, right? It is not just reopen. It is not just build it back. It is advance. Use this as a moment in time where they look back, when they write the history books and they say oh boy, they went through a terrible time but they actually learned from it and they improved from it. They moved forward. We had 9/11. Yes, we built back.
We built back different, we built back smarter. We had Hurricane Sandy, devastated Long Island. I was governor. I didn't say we want to replace, I said we're going to learn how to do a new grid system. We're going to learn how to do better infrastructure. And we did. Long Island, today, is better for having gone through Hurricane Sandy as terrible as that was.
We have to do the same thing here. How do we come back even better? So, the long and the short of it is thank you to all New Yorkers for all the good work. To our healthcare workers, a special thank you. To the police, to fire, to the transit workers. You know, the economy has not been closed down, right? All the essential services have still been functioning. You still can go to the grocery store and get food. Lord knows you could go to a healthcare institution and get healthcare. The transportation works, the buses work. All these people who kept everything working, we thank them from the bottom of our hearts.
But also remember we still have more to do. New Yorkers know that because New Yorkers are tough, but tough doesn't mean just tough. Tough is easy. It's tough but smart, but disciplined, but unified, and but loving. That's who we are as New Yorkers.
Last point, on a personal point, I have my daughter Mariah who is with me. She is the third daughter for me. She just came home, if you will - she was quarantined - so now I have all three daughters with me. They can't appreciate this, but it's such a comfort to me, personally, to have them home. You know, when your child is not at home, especially at a difficult time like this, you're always wondering where are they? Are they okay? Are they doing what's right? And every instinct is you want to be able to protect them. When they're not there you have this constant hole in your heart, right, and this constant question as you go through the day. So, you're trying to do everything that you have to do but you still have this question in the back of your mind. Where is Mariah? How is she?
So, now that they are all three with me gives me a great sense of comfort in this crazy situation we're in. But, if not for the craziness, I would never have my three daughters with me again. They're 25, 25, 22 years old. The last thing they want to do is hang out with Pop, right? They have places to go, people to see. They're taking life by the horns. So, I get this beautiful silver lining in the midst of this hell where my daughters are with me again. We get to celebrate family and we get to bring back traditions and we get to enjoy each other and have really in depth conversations that we haven't had in years, right? Reconnect in a way we haven't had the opportunity in years.
Today is Sunday and I come from an Italian American household where we had a great tradition on Sundays. The family had to come together at the table, you had to be there. They called it dinner, but it started at 2 o'clock in the afternoon - I don't know why they called it dinner. But everybody was at the table. Spaghetti and meatballs every Sunday. I started my tomato sauce before I left. We're going to go back, we're going to sit at the table, have our spaghetti and meatballs on Sunday, and I know what I'm going to talk to them about.
My daughters, Mariah - and Mariah brought her boyfriend, who's also here. The boyfriend is very nice and we like the boyfriend. Advice to fathers, the answer on what you think of the boyfriend is always I like the boyfriend. Always. Because there's only two options. Either you like the boyfriend, in which case you say I like the boyfriend, or you don't like the boyfriend. But you can never say you don't like the boyfriend. I learned this lesson the hard way. Otherwise it triggers NDS. NDS is Natural Defiance Syndrome. It's not documented, but it is a psychological condition where if you say as a father I don't like him, Natural Defiance Syndrome kicks in and then they like the boyfriend more because he is opposed by the father. So the answer has to be I like the boyfriend. In this case, I actually like the boyfriend. But even if you don't like the boyfriend, the answer can only be that I like the boyfriend.
But we're going to be at dinner with the boyfriend and we're going to have our spaghetti and our meatballs. They won't eat the spaghetti and the meatballs because when I cook it they just won't eat it. But they move it around the dish and that's all I can ask. But I'm going to tell them - I'm going to recall to them - how important that meal was on Sundays. To have the family together, to take the time to sit and to talk and to reconnect. People talk about the Italians and they love the food. Yeah, they love the food, but the food was just a magnet to get the family to the table, right? It was just the device to get people to spend two hours at the table. That's where you talked and you went through the week. I used to do it at my grandfather's house. My father, mother, my kids, all the siblings would go to my grandfather's house.
My grandfather's name was Andrea. I'm named for him, Andrew. At the end of the meal, my grandfather would always say, he was at the head of the table and he would say, "Okay, that was my vacation," and then he would get up and they would do whatever they were doing. I never really understood what he meant. Later in life, I said to my father, who is his son, "What did grandpa mean, that was my vacation?" He said, "Well your grandfather never had a day off. Your grandfather worked seven days a week." He ran a little grocery store, delicatessen in Jamaica and he worked seven days a week. And he was saying that was his vacation. He never took a vacation and everybody would take a vacation on tv and in the tv commercials. That was his vacation. The three hours at the table for dinner with his family, that was his vacation. Then he would go back to run the store.
You think of how our immigrants work in this country and wherever the immigrants are from, what that whole immigrant philosophy and drive does for us, and I'll will end where are started.
You think of all the essential workers. "Well we had to stay at home. I'm tired of staying at home." Yeah, think of all the people, all the essential workers who had to go out there every day and work in the middle of this, who frankly would have much rather stayed home and they didn't know what the virus was, and they are out there working with the public, exposing themselves. Why do we have a higher rate of infection among African-Americans, Latinos, et cetera? Well, who are the essential workers? We have a higher rate of infection among the essential workers, because they were out there driving the buses, and they were out there driving the trains, and they were out there running the hospitals and the emergency rooms, and the nurses, and the police officers.
They didn't get to stay home and they got sicker and they died, more than anyone else. Because they were there honoring their responsibility to their job and to public service. Let's remember that. Let's remember them. Yeah, we are all going through a tough time, and it is a tough time. But a lot of people have shown a lot of courage and a lot of beauty and they've had very tough lives. Let's appreciate them at the same time.
April 20, 2020.
NYS Department of Labor Launches New Streamlined Application for New Yorkers to Apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Without Having to First Apply for Unemployment Insurance. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/nys-department-labor-launches-new-streamlined-application-new-yorkers-apply-pandemic
Cumbersome federal policy that slowed New York from distributing benefits lifted
In conjunction with this morning's rollout of improved application, over 3,100 DOL representatives solely dedicated to answering unemployment benefit needs in improved process
Since the COVID-19 crisis began, DOL has paid $2.2 billion in Unemployment benefits to 1.1 million New Yorkers
Application call backlog prior to 4/8 reduced to 4,305 from 275,000
The New York State Department of Labor today announced the launch of a new application for New Yorkers to apply for traditional Unemployment Insurance or the new COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. This one-stop-shop for unemployment benefits will connect New Yorkers with the benefits they deserve faster, without requiring them to call the Department of Labor.
Prior to today, due to cumbersome federal guidelines, New Yorkers were required to apply for regular Unemployment Insurance and be rejected before applying for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. With this new application, which aligns with updated federal policy, New Yorkers will be able to simply fill out one form to get the correct benefits.
In conjunction with this morning's rollout of the improved application, DOL has been deploying over 3,100 representatives solely dedicated to answering unemployment benefit needs seven days a week. This is up from 400 who previously manned the DOL call center prior to the pandemic.
Since the COVID-19 crisis began, DOL has paid approximately $2.2 billion in Unemployment Insurance benefits to 1.1 million New Yorkers. The application call backlog prior to April 8 has been reduced to 4,305 from 275,000.
"I have been unemployed before myself, and I understand the pain, fear and anxiety New Yorkers are facing. The DOL's mission is to help our neighbors through some of their toughest days, and in the last week we have made great strides in updating our systems,"NYS Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said. "While it appears the coronavirus pandemic is beginning to stabilize — at least from the public health perspective — we know that many New Yorkers are still facing an uncertain economic future, and the Department of Labor will continue to dedicate every resource available to helping New Yorkers weather this storm."
The updated unemployment benefits application system, available here, will determine which unemployment program — unemployment insurance or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance — New Yorkers should apply for and then prompt them to answer a specific set of questions. The application builds on the new online system the department rolled out on Friday, April 10th, in partnership with the State Office of Information Technology Services and Google Cloud, to help manage the exponential and unprecedented increase in new claims resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which was included in the Federal CARES Act, provides unemployment benefits for individuals who are ineligible for traditional unemployment insurance. Examples of those covered by PUA include:
Self-employed New Yorkers;
Independent contractors;
New Yorkers who worked for an app-based company (i.e. "gig workers")
Farmers;
Those diagnosed with COVID-19 or who have COVD-19 symptoms and are seeking a diagnosis;
Those living with a household member who has been diagnosed with COVID-19;
Those providing care for a family or household member diagnosed with COVID-19;
A primary caregiver for a child unable to attend school or another facility due to COVID-19;
Those unable to reach their place of employment due to an imposed quarantine or because they have been advised by a medical provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19;
Those scheduled to commence new employment that cannot reach their workplace as a direct result of COVID-19;
Those who became a major breadwinner because the head of their household died from COVID-19;
Those who quit their job as a direct result of COVID-19;
Those whose place of employment closed as a direct result of COVID-19;
Those with insufficient work history and affected by COVID-19; and
New Yorkers otherwise not qualified for regular or extended UI benefits and affected by COVID-19
In addition, New Yorkers concerned about food insecurity are reminded that resources are available across the state. Anyone looking for assistance can find a local food bank, including those supported by New York State, by visiting Feeding America's website here.
The New York State Department of Labor is dedicated to ensuring that every New Yorker who is entitled to unemployment insurance benefits will receive all benefits due. New Yorkers seeking to file an unemployment insurance claim should visit labor.ny.gov or call the Telephone Claim Center at (888) 209-8124. Below are some resources that will assist New Yorkers in filing their claims:
April 20, 2020
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Calls on Federal Government to Provide Hazard Pay to Essential Public Workers. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-calls-federal-government-provide-hazard-pay
Launches New Partnership with Ready Responders to Expand Health Care Services and Testing to NYCHA Residents
State Will Deliver More Than 500,000 Cloth Masks and 10,000 Gallons of Hand Sanitizer to Public Housing Communities
Announces Creation of Reimagine NY Task Force to Improve Systems in Downstate New York Once the State is No Longer on Pause
Announces SUNY is Distributing Over 8,800 Laptops and Chromebooks to Students in Need to Complete Their Spring Semester Coursework
Confirms 4,726 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 247,512; New Cases in 40 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today called on the federal government to provide hazard pay for essential public workers on the front lines, proposing a 50 percent bonus for these workers. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, 41 percent of frontline workers are people of color. Of those frontline workers, 45 percent of public transit workers, 57 percent of building cleaning service workers and 40 percent of healthcare workers are people of color. People of color are also disproportionately represented in delivery and childcare services, and approximately one third of frontline workers are members of low-income households.
Governor Cuomo also announced the state is launching a new partnership with Ready Responders to bring health care services, including COVID-19 diagnostic testing, to residents of public housing in New York City. The state will also partner with Representative Greg Meeks, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Attorney General Letitia James, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. on this effort. An initial pilot program will begin this week at locations across New York City, including Highbridge Houses, Edenwald Houses, and Andrew Jackson Houses in the Bronx; Washington Houses in Manhattan; Queensbridge Houses, Hammel Houses and Red Fern Houses in Queens; and Brevoort Houses in Brooklyn.
The Governor also announced the state will deliver 500,000 cloth masks and 10,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to public housing communities.
The Governor also announced the creation of the Reimagine NY Task Force to improve systems in downstate New York once the state is no longer on pause. The Task Force will be led by the state and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and will be comprised of other local elected officials and housing and transportation experts.
Essential public workers are the ones on the front lines every day carrying us through this crisis, and we must ensure their efforts and sacrifice are appropriately recognized.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
The Governor also announced that SUNY is distributing more than 8,800 laptops and Chromebooks to students in need who are currently completing their spring semester coursework online amid the COVID-19 health crisis. As SUNY and campuses began planning the shift to distance learning in March, SUNY System Administration surveyed all 64 campuses and colleges to gauge student technology needs, and is providing the laptops and Chromebooks based on those findings. SUNY will continue to monitor and fulfill technology needs while remote learning continues.
"Essential public workers are the ones on the front lines every day carrying us through this crisis, and we must ensure their efforts and sacrifice are appropriately recognized," Governor Cuomo said. "This crisis is not over yet, and as long as these workers continue to work and expose themselves to the virus, they should be properly compensated. I am calling on the federal government to provide hazard pay to these frontline workers and give them a 50 percent bonus because they are the true heroes in this crisis."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 4,726 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 247,512 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 247,512 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
687
5
Allegany
30
0
Broome
199
7
Cattaraugus
34
0
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
25
0
Chemung
73
0
Chenango
78
0
Clinton
51
2
Columbia
111
4
Cortland
25
0
Delaware
49
0
Dutchess
2,284
44
Erie
2,109
39
Essex
20
2
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
27
0
Genesee
119
2
Greene
86
1
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
49
0
Jefferson
54
0
Lewis
9
1
Livingston
39
0
Madison
106
0
Monroe
1,054
22
Montgomery
35
0
Nassau
30,677
664
Niagara
255
9
NYC
136,806
2,370
Oneida
279
4
Onondaga
509
11
Ontario
71
1
Orange
6,482
103
Orleans
46
0
Oswego
48
1
Otsego
49
1
Putnam
599
7
Rensselaer
177
4
Rockland
9,457
93
Saratoga
254
3
Schenectady
269
1
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
7
1
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
110
5
Steuben
167
0
Suffolk
27,662
774
Sullivan
544
7
Tioga
37
2
Tompkins
119
2
Ulster
877
23
Warren
101
5
Washington
65
2
Wayne
50
0
Westchester
24,306
503
Wyoming
36
0
Yates
10
1
April 20, 2020.
Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and New York State Council on Women & Girls Launch COVID-19 Maternity Task Force. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/secretary-governor-melissa-derosa-and-new-york-state-council-women-girls-launch-covid-19
Task Force to Develop Plan for New York State to Authorize & Certify Additional Birth Centers to Provide Mothers a Safe Alternative to Already Stressed Hospitals
Recommendations Will Be Ready for Governor Cuomo by End of Week
Will Also Review Impact of COVID-19 on Pregnancy
Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and the New York State Council on Women and Girls today announced the creation of a COVID-19 maternity task force to examine the best approach to authorizing and certifying additional dedicated birthing centers in an effort to provide mothers a safe alternative to already stressed hospitals amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The task force will make recommendations to Governor Cuomo by the end of the week.
Additionally, the task force will work with Regional Perinatal Centers to review literature and make recommendations on the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy.
"This pandemic strained our hospital system in a way no one could have ever imagined, and while New York leads in ensuring laboring mothers were able to have a healthy partner, friend or family member with them during childbirth we can and should explore additional ways to make the experience less stressful," Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governor and Chair of the New York State Council on Women and Girls, said. "Birth centers can serve as a safe alternative for low-risk pregnancies — relieving the strain on hospitals and providing a supportive environment for mothers during an already stressful time. I look forward to working with Christy and this diverse task force to develop recommendations for the Governor to review as quickly as possible."
"Governor Cuomo and New York State have been national leaders in the fight against COVID-19 and the fact that they are prioritizing the health and safety of women and families during this crisis only further underscores that," said Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts. "I'm honored to be working with Melissa and the other members of this task force to urgently protect mothers and ensure women have much-needed safe birthing options."
The task force - chaired by Melissa DeRosa - will be comprised of stakeholders from obstetrical providers, pediatric care providers and family planning agencies in conjunction with the State Department of Health. The list of members is available below:
Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts
Christa Christakis, MPP - Executive Director, American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists District II
Sascha James-Conterelli, DNP, RN, CNM, FACNM - President, NYSAssociation of Licensed Midwives
Loretta Willis, Vice President Quality & Research, Healthcare Association ofNYS
Lorraine Ryan, Sr. VP Legal Regulatory & Professional Affairs Greater NY Hospital Association
Rose Duhan, President & CEO, Community Health Care Association of NYS
Ngozi Moses, Executive Director Brooklyn Perinatal Network
Nan Strauss - Every Mother Counts
Dr. Deborah E. Campbell, MD - Montefiore Medical Center
Whitney Hall, CCE, LM, CLC – President, NYS Association of Birth Centers
Natasha Nurse-Clarke, PhD, RN - Regional Perinatal Center Coordinator, Maimonides
Dr. Dena Goffman, MD - NYP/Columbia
Rev. Diann Holt - Founder/Executive Director Durham's Baby Café
Cynthia Jones, MD, MPH - Mosaic Health Center
The task force will maintain an ad-hoc status throughout the COVID-19 state of emergency to address any additional issues related to COVID-19 during pregnancy through postpartum period.
April 20, 2020
Video, Audio, Photos and Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Calls on Federal Government to Provide Hazard Pay to Essential Public Workers. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-and-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-calls
Launches New Partnership with Ready Responders to Expand Health Care Services and Testing to NYCHA Residents
State Will Deliver More Than 500,000 Cloth Masks and 10,000 Gallons of Hand Sanitizer to Public Housing Communities
Announces Creation of Reimagine NY Task Force to Improve Systems in Downstate New York Once the State is No Longer on Pause
Announces SUNY is Distributing Over 8,800 Laptops and Chromebooks to Students in Need to Complete Their Spring Semester Coursework
Confirms 4,726 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 247,512; New Cases in 40 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "I would propose hazard pay for front-line workers. We all say, "boy, they did a great job. The health care workers did a great job. The police, they're heroes." Yes, they are, but you know what, thanks is nice but also recognition of their efforts and their sacrifice is also appropriate. They are the ones that are carrying us through this crisis. This crisis is not over. If you look at who they are and the equity and fairness of what has happened, I think any reasonable person would say, "We should right this wrong.""
Cuomo: "What we do determines our future, right? The smartest government is as smart as people are. That is how you shape your future, but this is cause and effect on steroids. What we do today will determine tomorrow and we are not going to need to wait to read the history books. We make smart decisions, you will see smart outcomes in two weeks. We make bad decisions, you will see bad outcomes in two weeks. So, when they say the future is in our hands, the future is really in our hands and we are going to get through this."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo called on the federal government to provide hazard pay for essential public workers on the front lines, proposing a 50 percent bonus for these workers. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, 41 percent of frontline workers are people of color. Of those frontline workers, 45 percent of public transit workers, 57 percent of building cleaning service workers and 40 percent of healthcare workers are people of color. People of color are also disproportionately represented in delivery and childcare services, and approximately one third of frontline workers are members of low-income households.
Governor Cuomo also announced the state is launching a new partnership with Ready Responders to bring health care services, including COVID-19 diagnostic testing, to residents of public housing in New York City. The state will also partner with Representative Greg Meeks, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Attorney General Letitia James, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. on this effort. An initial pilot program will begin this week at locations across New York City, including Highbridge Houses, Edenwald Houses, Washington Houses and Andrew Jackson Houses in the Bronx; Queensbridge Houses and Brevoort Houses in Queens; and Red Fern Houses and Hammel Houses in Brooklyn.
The Governor also announced the state will deliver 500,000 cloth masks and 10,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to public housing communities.
The Governor also announced the creation of the Reimagine NY Task Force to improve systems in downstate New York once the state is no longer on pause. The Task Force will be led by the state and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and will be comprised of other local elected officials and housing and transportation experts.
The Governor also announced that SUNY is distributing more than 8,800 laptops and Chromebooks to students in need who are currently completing their spring semester coursework online amid the COVID-19 health crisis. As SUNY and campuses began planning the shift to distance learning in March, SUNY System Administration surveyed all 64 campuses and colleges to gauge student technology needs, and is providing the laptops and Chromebooks based on those findings. SUNY will continue to monitor and fulfill technology needs while remote learning continues.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. Happy Monday. All devices off, by the way. To my far-right, Dr. Jim Malatras, to my right, Dr. Zucker, a real doctor. To my left, Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, to her left, Robert Mujica, budget director, calls himself doctor of the budget, not a real doctor.
Today is 51 days since the first case in New York, just for perspective, so we know where we are. 92 days since the first case came to the United States of America. It was in Seattle and in California. These are the hospitalization numbers for today. A tick down yesterday, but a slight tick, statistically irrelevant. The question for us is, are we passed the apex? We have had a number of days that have seen a reduction, reductions across the board. Hospitals also say anecdotally that they have less patients in their emergency room, which, again, perspective, the emergency rooms were way over capacity. It was chaotic. It was hellish. And the emergency rooms are still at or over capacity, but it's better than it was. The total change in hospitalizations, you see that has been going down. The three-day average of hospitalizations is going down. Number of intubations is down again. That is great news, not down as much as yesterday, but down. Number of new people coming in the door with COVID diagnosis is again, just about flat with yesterday. This was reporting over a weekend. Sometimes the weekend reporting can get a little funky because it's Saturday and Sunday, and they have less of the staff. The reporting may not be as accurate but it's basically flat.
The question that we initially dealt with at the beginning of this as the numbers were going up. The question is, how long until we reach the top of the mountain? Every day, it was the number's higher, the number's higher, the number's higher. The question is, when do you get to the top, how high can it go? Then, we get to the top, the top turns out not to be a peak, it turns out to be a plateau, and then we're on the plateau, and it's basically flat, and then the question is, how long are we going to be on this plateau? How long, how wide is the plateau? The question now is, assuming we're off the plateau, and we're seeing a dissent, which the numbers would suggest we're seeing a dissent, the question is now, how long is the dissent and how steep is the dissent? And nobody knows. Just the way nobody knew how long the ascent was, nobody can tell you how long the descent is. And that's what we are trying to figure out.
The number's coming down, but how fast does the number come down? And how fast does the number come down to where it becomes a low enough number that we have some confidence that we have a margin of error? Does it take two weeks for it to come down? Some projections say that. Does it take a month? Some projections say that. And again, the projections are nice, but I wouldn't bet the farm on them. And I don't even have a farm. Worst news is the number of lives lost, that number is still horrifically high. If you're looking for the optimist's view, it's not as bad as it was, but 478 New Yorkers died yesterday from this terrible virus.
Everyone is anxious to reopen. Everyone is anxious to get back to work. So am I. Question is, what does that mean? How do we do it, when do we do it? Nobody disagrees that we want to get out of this situation. Nobody. You don't need protests to convince anyone in this country that we have to get back to work, and we have to get the economy going, and we have to get out of our homes. Nobody. The question is going to become, how, when, how fast, and what do we mean in terms of reopening? With reopening, I want to set the bar higher. Meaning the question shouldn't be, when do we reopen, and what do we reopen? The question should be, let's use this situation, this crisis, this time, to actually learn the lessons, value from the reflection, and let's reimagine what we want society to be.
Since we are going to have to go through all of this, and it's not going to be fast, let's at least make this a moment that when we look back, we can say, wow, we went through hell but look at all the lessons we learned and look at how much better we made this place from this incident.
We went through 9/11. It was hellish when we had to rebuild but we were smart enough to say, how do we build it back better? You look at downtown Manhattan now, it is better than it was before 9/11. You look at the security procedures that this nation has. We're better than we were before 9/11. We had Superstorm Sandy here on Long Island. Terrible, terrible. Thousands of peoples' homes gone. Long Island is better today for having gone through Superstorm Sandy.
Okay, how do we use this situation and stop saying reopen, but reimagine and improve and build back better? And you can ask this question on any level. How do we have a better transportation system, a better housing system, better public health system, better social equity, better use of technology? People who are working from home, a lot of them are saying, I should have been doing this all along. You have telemedicine that we have been very slow on. Why was everybody going to a doctor's office all that time? Why didn't you do it using technology? Why haven't we been using more technology for education? Why haven't we incorporated so many of these lessons? Because change is hard and people are slow. Now is the time to do it.
And that's what we are doing in a multi-state regional coalition and that's very important because that is the smartest way to do it. On a more granular level here in New York, we will have a "reimagine task force" that focuses primarily on downstate New York, which has been the most affected area, and led by the State with those local elected officials, but let's get the best housing experts. Let's get the best transportation experts and let's use this as a moment to really plan change that we could normally never do unless you had this situation.
In the meantime, do no harm. This is my number one concern every day. Do no harm. Don't let that infection rate go up and that's testing and that's watching the dials, right? We know what's going to happen now. The weather is going to warm. People are a little more relaxed because they see the numbers coming down, and we know human behavior. They want to get out of the house and they want to be more active. And there is a sanity quotient to this whole situation. There's only so long you can say to people, stay in the house and lock the door, right? They have to go out do and something, and they will. They will come out with the warmer weather and we do have parks and there are recreation areas. It is not even healthy to stay in the house all the time. But that is going to happen. That activity level is going to increase naturally.
When that activity level increases you can very well see that infection rate spread. Infection rate is primarily a function of contact. You touch a surface and then I touch a surface. You cough and the droplets go on me. It's contact. And that's why a place like New York City or anywhere you see a hotspot cluster, New Rochelle, it was about contact. People start coming out. They start moving around more, there will be more content. That contact will increase the virus spread. Watch the dial. Watch the virus contact spread. You will see it in the hospitalization rate. To the extent we are doing testing you will see it in the testing rate, but remember how thin our margin of error is.
We were at 1.2, 1.3, 1.4. That's when the virus is outbreak. One person is infecting more than one additional person. When you get the infection rate below 1, theoretically, the virus is slowing. We are at .9. We are at .9 to 1.2. That is a very fine margin of error. I don't even know that it is statistically relevant, frankly, because all of these numbers are a little loose, but that is what we have to watch and we will. And we have to watch this until we have a medical treatment, or we have a vaccine. That is when this is really over.
In the meantime, I say to my local government officials, I am getting a lot of calls from a lot of supervisors, town, elected officials, et cetera, they are under increasing political pressure, and they want to do things. The state rule is now everything is closed, and the state rule is they cannot take any action that is contrary to that. Because coordination and discipline is now key. Beaches, public facilities, schools, parades, concerts - these would all be magnets for people. I work with our other states because frankly, if they open up a beach in Connecticut, you could see a flow of people from New York going to a beach in Connecticut, if i don't open our beat his, but if they have a concert in New Jersey, people who are cooped up here, you could see them get in a car and drive to New Jersey to a concert. By the way, people drive to new jersey for concerts anyway without COVID. I told someone yesterday - I ran into a couple in Albany who said, we are from Queens. They are in a car eating out of Styrofoam trays. They drove up from queens to buy Thai food in Albany, take out, because they liked the Thai food restaurant in Albany. As said, you drove from Queens to Albany to buy Thai food, 2.5 hours, three hours. I see enough Thai restaurants in Queens, all due respect to the Thai restaurants in Albany, they're very, very good but would you really drive three hours. They said, we had to get out of the house, we had to do something, so we liked to take a drive.
So, anything that Jersey, Connecticut, does can affect everyone else. Westchester does something, Suffolk does something, New York City do something, it affects everyone else. That is the reality. So, everything is closed, unless we say otherwise, and the most important thing - I just had this conversation with a local official. Look, people need government to work. Government has to be smart, and if it looks confused between the state and the county, or the state and the town, that's the wrong message for everyone. So, let's just be smart.
On testing and funding, those are the two areas we are working with our federal partners. Testing is going to require everyone to work together. Federal and state, state and locals by the way, we are starting the largest antibody test every done today in New York, the largest sample, but this has to be a multilevel government coordinative project because we have to do this on an ongoing basis. Also, on the funding issue, this is obviously a unique period in a lot of ways. We did a state budget in a way we have never done it before. Since our state didn't have any revenues, the way we did the budget is basically said, it's dependent on what we get from the federal government, and the federal government had promised funding all along. We said, whatever we get from the federal government will determine our state budget, right? Because the state has a $10 billion to $15 billion hole right now, and that has never been done before. It basically said, I will tell you the state budget when I know the state budget, and the state budget is going to be a function of whatever the federal government gives us. The federal government has not funded states to date. The National Governor's Association, bipartisan, headed by a chairman, Governor Hogan, Republican. I'm the vice chairman. We have said with one voice, you want the governor's to do the job, we need you to provide funding for state governments. There's now another piece of legislation they're talking about passing in Washington and, again, it doesn't have state and local governments in it. This week, we're going to do a state forecast, if they exclude state government again, our state forecast will project - without any federal funds, you can't spend what you don't have - if you were to allocate the shortfall relatively on a flat basis across need, you would be cutting schools 20 percent, local governments 20 percent and hospitals 20 percent. This is the worst time to do this.
Now, the federal government has said from day one, "don't worry. We're going to provide funding to the states." Yeah, don't worry. I'm worried because I've heard this over and over again. My job is very simple. I have one agenda. I have one purpose. I fight for New Yorkers. That is my job. I don't have any side jobs. I don't have any other places to go, people to see. That's all I do. I'm telling you, New Yorkers need funding for this budget because we can't do it otherwise. Washington is saying what, we want to fund small business. Yeah, great. You should fund small businesses. They want to fund financial services and large corporations and airlines and hotels. Yeah, that's all great. Fund all those businesses. But, at the same time, don't forget teachers and police officers and firefighters and transit workers and health care workers and nursing home staff. Those are the people who I fund with the state budget and you shouldn't make us choose between small businesses and large businesses and people who are on the front line, doing the work day-in and day-out.
I would even go a step further and I would propose hazard pay for front-line workers. We all say, "boy, they did a great job. The health care workers did a great job. The police, they're heroes." Yes, they are, but you know what, thanks is nice but also recognition of their efforts and their sacrifice is also appropriate. They are the ones that are carrying us through this crisis. This crisis is not over. If you look at who they are and the equity and fairness of what has happened, I think any reasonable person would say, "We should right this wrong."
Forty percent of the frontline workers are people of color. Forty-five percent in public transit, 57 percent of the building workers, 40 percent of the health care workers. People of color are also disproportionately represented in delivery services and child care services. The economy closed down - the economy did not close down. It closed down for those people who frankly have the luxury of staying at home. All those essential workers who had to get up every morning to put food on the shelves and go to the hospitals to provide health care under extraordinary circumstances, and the police officer who had to go out to keep you safe and the firefighter who still had to go out and fight the fire - those people worked and they went out there and exposed themselves to the virus.
Two-thirds of those front line workers are women. One-third come from low-income households. So they've been doing this work, they've been stressed, they're going home to a household often had 2 wage earners, one of them is now not working, they're living just on that one salary. And, after all of that, we see the infection rate among African-American and brown Americans higher proportionately than other groups. Why? Because they were out there exposing themselves. That's why. You can talk about health disparities, et cetera. But, I believe all the studies are going to wind up saying, "Yes, when you are home with your doors locked, dealing with cabin fever, they were out there dealing with the coronavirus." That's why they are more infected. Pay them what they deserve. I would say hazard pay, give them a 50% bonus, and I would do that now. Yes, airlines, also frontline workers.
Also, we have a need and responsibility to get the assistance we need to people in low income communities. We have—NYCHA is public housing in the city of New York, high concentration of people in one place. Many people in the small lobby, many people in elevators, many people in hallways, a higher number of people in the apartment, just a higher occupancy. That's where the virus spreads. We are going to set up a test program in NYCHA, where we're going to have on-site health services and testing in the New York City area, with New York City Housing Authority projects, working with local officials. We're doing it as a pilot program to see how it works. If it works well, we will go further with it. We have as you see Congressman Meeks, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Attorney General Letitia James, Speaker Carl Heastie, and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz who will be working on this and coordinating it, and I thank them very much. We're also going to bring 500,000 cloth masks to NYCHA. That is one mask for every person who is in public housing, and hand sanitizer, etcetera. Just so they have the necessary equipment they need to do the social-distancing and protection.
Personal opinion, not a fact, throw it in the pale, what we're are doing here, you know as a general rule, what we do determines our future, right? The smartest government is as smart as people are. That is how you shape your future, but this is cause and effect on steroids. What we do today will determine tomorrow and we are not going to need to wait to read the history books. We make smart decisions, you will see smart outcomes in two weeks. We make bad decisions, you will see bad outcomes in two weeks. So, when they say the future is in our hands, the future is really in our hands and we are going to get through this. We can control the beast. The beast will not destroy us. We can control the beast, great news. We have a lot of work to do to keep the beast under control, and we have a lot of work to do to reopen, but we are going to set the bar high, and we're going to reimagine, and what we reopen will be better than what we had before. Built back better, built back better, BBB. And that is what we are going to do because we are New York tough and tough isn't just tough. Tough is smart, tough is disciplined, smart is united, and smart is loving.
April 20, 2020.
Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and New York State Council on Women & Girls Launch COVID-19 Maternity Task Force. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/secretary-governor-melissa-derosa-and-new-york-state-council-women-girls-launch-covid-19
Task Force to Develop Plan for New York State to Authorize & Certify Additional Birth Centers to Provide Mothers a Safe Alternative to Already Stressed Hospitals
Recommendations Will Be Ready for Governor Cuomo by End of Week
Will Also Review Impact of COVID-19 on Pregnancy
Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and the New York State Council on Women and Girls today announced the creation of a COVID-19 maternity task force to examine the best approach to authorizing and certifying additional dedicated birthing centers in an effort to provide mothers a safe alternative to already stressed hospitals amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The task force will make recommendations to Governor Cuomo by the end of the week.
Additionally, the task force will work with Regional Perinatal Centers to review literature and make recommendations on the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy.
"This pandemic strained our hospital system in a way no one could have ever imagined, and while New York leads in ensuring laboring mothers were able to have a healthy partner, friend or family member with them during childbirth we can and should explore additional ways to make the experience less stressful," Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governor and Chair of the New York State Council on Women and Girls, said. "Birth centers can serve as a safe alternative for low-risk pregnancies — relieving the strain on hospitals and providing a supportive environment for mothers during an already stressful time. I look forward to working with Christy and this diverse task force to develop recommendations for the Governor to review as quickly as possible."
"Governor Cuomo and New York State have been national leaders in the fight against COVID-19 and the fact that they are prioritizing the health and safety of women and families during this crisis only further underscores that," said Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts. "I'm honored to be working with Melissa and the other members of this task force to urgently protect mothers and ensure women have much-needed safe birthing options."
The task force - chaired by Melissa DeRosa - will be comprised of stakeholders from obstetrical providers, pediatric care providers and family planning agencies in conjunction with the State Department of Health. The list of members is available below:
Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts
Christa Christakis, MPP - Executive Director, American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists District II
Sascha James-Conterelli, DNP, RN, CNM, FACNM - President, NYSAssociation of Licensed Midwives
Loretta Willis, Vice President Quality & Research, Healthcare Association ofNYS
Lorraine Ryan, Sr. VP Legal Regulatory & Professional Affairs Greater NY Hospital Association
Rose Duhan, President & CEO, Community Health Care Association of NYS
Ngozi Moses, Executive Director Brooklyn Perinatal Network
Nan Strauss - Every Mother Counts
Dr. Deborah E. Campbell, MD - Montefiore Medical Center
Whitney Hall, CCE, LM, CLC – President, NYS Association of Birth Centers
Natasha Nurse-Clarke, PhD, RN - Regional Perinatal Center Coordinator, Maimonides
Dr. Dena Goffman, MD - NYP/Columbia
Rev. Diann Holt - Founder/Executive Director Durham's Baby Café
Cynthia Jones, MD, MPH - Mosaic Health Center
The task force will maintain an ad-hoc status throughout the COVID-19 state of emergency to address any additional issues related to COVID-19 during pregnancy through postpartum period.
April 20, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos and Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Calls on Federal Government to Provide Hazard Pay to Essential Public Workers. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-and-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-calls
Launches New Partnership with Ready Responders to Expand Health Care Services and Testing to NYCHA Residents
State Will Deliver More Than 500,000 Cloth Masks and 10,000 Gallons of Hand Sanitizer to Public Housing Communities
Announces Creation of Reimagine NY Task Force to Improve Systems in Downstate New York Once the State is No Longer on Pause
Announces SUNY is Distributing Over 8,800 Laptops and Chromebooks to Students in Need to Complete Their Spring Semester Coursework
Confirms 4,726 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 247,512; New Cases in 40 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "I would propose hazard pay for front-line workers. We all say, "boy, they did a great job. The health care workers did a great job. The police, they're heroes." Yes, they are, but you know what, thanks is nice but also recognition of their efforts and their sacrifice is also appropriate. They are the ones that are carrying us through this crisis. This crisis is not over. If you look at who they are and the equity and fairness of what has happened, I think any reasonable person would say, "We should right this wrong.""
Cuomo: "What we do determines our future, right? The smartest government is as smart as people are. That is how you shape your future, but this is cause and effect on steroids. What we do today will determine tomorrow and we are not going to need to wait to read the history books. We make smart decisions, you will see smart outcomes in two weeks. We make bad decisions, you will see bad outcomes in two weeks. So, when they say the future is in our hands, the future is really in our hands and we are going to get through this."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo called on the federal government to provide hazard pay for essential public workers on the front lines, proposing a 50 percent bonus for these workers. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, 41 percent of frontline workers are people of color. Of those frontline workers, 45 percent of public transit workers, 57 percent of building cleaning service workers and 40 percent of healthcare workers are people of color. People of color are also disproportionately represented in delivery and childcare services, and approximately one third of frontline workers are members of low-income households.
Governor Cuomo also announced the state is launching a new partnership with Ready Responders to bring health care services, including COVID-19 diagnostic testing, to residents of public housing in New York City. The state will also partner with Representative Greg Meeks, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Attorney General Letitia James, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. on this effort. An initial pilot program will begin this week at locations across New York City, including Highbridge Houses, Edenwald Houses, Washington Houses and Andrew Jackson Houses in the Bronx; Queensbridge Houses and Brevoort Houses in Queens; and Red Fern Houses and Hammel Houses in Brooklyn.
The Governor also announced the state will deliver 500,000 cloth masks and 10,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to public housing communities.
The Governor also announced the creation of the Reimagine NY Task Force to improve systems in downstate New York once the state is no longer on pause. The Task Force will be led by the state and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and will be comprised of other local elected officials and housing and transportation experts.
The Governor also announced that SUNY is distributing more than 8,800 laptops and Chromebooks to students in need who are currently completing their spring semester coursework online amid the COVID-19 health crisis. As SUNY and campuses began planning the shift to distance learning in March, SUNY System Administration surveyed all 64 campuses and colleges to gauge student technology needs, and is providing the laptops and Chromebooks based on those findings. SUNY will continue to monitor and fulfill technology needs while remote learning continues.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. Happy Monday. All devices off, by the way. To my far-right, Dr. Jim Malatras, to my right, Dr. Zucker, a real doctor. To my left, Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, to her left, Robert Mujica, budget director, calls himself doctor of the budget, not a real doctor.
Today is 51 days since the first case in New York, just for perspective, so we know where we are. 92 days since the first case came to the United States of America. It was in Seattle and in California. These are the hospitalization numbers for today. A tick down yesterday, but a slight tick, statistically irrelevant. The question for us is, are we passed the apex? We have had a number of days that have seen a reduction, reductions across the board. Hospitals also say anecdotally that they have less patients in their emergency room, which, again, perspective, the emergency rooms were way over capacity. It was chaotic. It was hellish. And the emergency rooms are still at or over capacity, but it's better than it was. The total change in hospitalizations, you see that has been going down. The three-day average of hospitalizations is going down. Number of intubations is down again. That is great news, not down as much as yesterday, but down. Number of new people coming in the door with COVID diagnosis is again, just about flat with yesterday. This was reporting over a weekend. Sometimes the weekend reporting can get a little funky because it's Saturday and Sunday, and they have less of the staff. The reporting may not be as accurate but it's basically flat.
The question that we initially dealt with at the beginning of this as the numbers were going up. The question is, how long until we reach the top of the mountain? Every day, it was the number's higher, the number's higher, the number's higher. The question is, when do you get to the top, how high can it go? Then, we get to the top, the top turns out not to be a peak, it turns out to be a plateau, and then we're on the plateau, and it's basically flat, and then the question is, how long are we going to be on this plateau? How long, how wide is the plateau? The question now is, assuming we're off the plateau, and we're seeing a dissent, which the numbers would suggest we're seeing a dissent, the question is now, how long is the dissent and how steep is the dissent? And nobody knows. Just the way nobody knew how long the ascent was, nobody can tell you how long the descent is. And that's what we are trying to figure out.
The number's coming down, but how fast does the number come down? And how fast does the number come down to where it becomes a low enough number that we have some confidence that we have a margin of error? Does it take two weeks for it to come down? Some projections say that. Does it take a month? Some projections say that. And again, the projections are nice, but I wouldn't bet the farm on them. And I don't even have a farm. Worst news is the number of lives lost, that number is still horrifically high. If you're looking for the optimist's view, it's not as bad as it was, but 478 New Yorkers died yesterday from this terrible virus.
Everyone is anxious to reopen. Everyone is anxious to get back to work. So am I. Question is, what does that mean? How do we do it, when do we do it? Nobody disagrees that we want to get out of this situation. Nobody. You don't need protests to convince anyone in this country that we have to get back to work, and we have to get the economy going, and we have to get out of our homes. Nobody. The question is going to become, how, when, how fast, and what do we mean in terms of reopening? With reopening, I want to set the bar higher. Meaning the question shouldn't be, when do we reopen, and what do we reopen? The question should be, let's use this situation, this crisis, this time, to actually learn the lessons, value from the reflection, and let's reimagine what we want society to be.
Since we are going to have to go through all of this, and it's not going to be fast, let's at least make this a moment that when we look back, we can say, wow, we went through hell but look at all the lessons we learned and look at how much better we made this place from this incident.
We went through 9/11. It was hellish when we had to rebuild but we were smart enough to say, how do we build it back better? You look at downtown Manhattan now, it is better than it was before 9/11. You look at the security procedures that this nation has. We're better than we were before 9/11. We had Superstorm Sandy here on Long Island. Terrible, terrible. Thousands of peoples' homes gone. Long Island is better today for having gone through Superstorm Sandy.
Okay, how do we use this situation and stop saying reopen, but reimagine and improve and build back better? And you can ask this question on any level. How do we have a better transportation system, a better housing system, better public health system, better social equity, better use of technology? People who are working from home, a lot of them are saying, I should have been doing this all along. You have telemedicine that we have been very slow on. Why was everybody going to a doctor's office all that time? Why didn't you do it using technology? Why haven't we been using more technology for education? Why haven't we incorporated so many of these lessons? Because change is hard and people are slow. Now is the time to do it.
And that's what we are doing in a multi-state regional coalition and that's very important because that is the smartest way to do it. On a more granular level here in New York, we will have a "reimagine task force" that focuses primarily on downstate New York, which has been the most affected area, and led by the State with those local elected officials, but let's get the best housing experts. Let's get the best transportation experts and let's use this as a moment to really plan change that we could normally never do unless you had this situation.
In the meantime, do no harm. This is my number one concern every day. Do no harm. Don't let that infection rate go up and that's testing and that's watching the dials, right? We know what's going to happen now. The weather is going to warm. People are a little more relaxed because they see the numbers coming down, and we know human behavior. They want to get out of the house and they want to be more active. And there is a sanity quotient to this whole situation. There's only so long you can say to people, stay in the house and lock the door, right? They have to go out do and something, and they will. They will come out with the warmer weather and we do have parks and there are recreation areas. It is not even healthy to stay in the house all the time. But that is going to happen. That activity level is going to increase naturally.
When that activity level increases you can very well see that infection rate spread. Infection rate is primarily a function of contact. You touch a surface and then I touch a surface. You cough and the droplets go on me. It's contact. And that's why a place like New York City or anywhere you see a hotspot cluster, New Rochelle, it was about contact. People start coming out. They start moving around more, there will be more content. That contact will increase the virus spread. Watch the dial. Watch the virus contact spread. You will see it in the hospitalization rate. To the extent we are doing testing you will see it in the testing rate, but remember how thin our margin of error is.
We were at 1.2, 1.3, 1.4. That's when the virus is outbreak. One person is infecting more than one additional person. When you get the infection rate below 1, theoretically, the virus is slowing. We are at .9. We are at .9 to 1.2. That is a very fine margin of error. I don't even know that it is statistically relevant, frankly, because all of these numbers are a little loose, but that is what we have to watch and we will. And we have to watch this until we have a medical treatment, or we have a vaccine. That is when this is really over.
In the meantime, I say to my local government officials, I am getting a lot of calls from a lot of supervisors, town, elected officials, et cetera, they are under increasing political pressure, and they want to do things. The state rule is now everything is closed, and the state rule is they cannot take any action that is contrary to that. Because coordination and discipline is now key. Beaches, public facilities, schools, parades, concerts - these would all be magnets for people. I work with our other states because frankly, if they open up a beach in Connecticut, you could see a flow of people from New York going to a beach in Connecticut, if i don't open our beat his, but if they have a concert in New Jersey, people who are cooped up here, you could see them get in a car and drive to New Jersey to a concert. By the way, people drive to new jersey for concerts anyway without COVID. I told someone yesterday - I ran into a couple in Albany who said, we are from Queens. They are in a car eating out of Styrofoam trays. They drove up from queens to buy Thai food in Albany, take out, because they liked the Thai food restaurant in Albany. As said, you drove from Queens to Albany to buy Thai food, 2.5 hours, three hours. I see enough Thai restaurants in Queens, all due respect to the Thai restaurants in Albany, they're very, very good but would you really drive three hours. They said, we had to get out of the house, we had to do something, so we liked to take a drive.
So, anything that Jersey, Connecticut, does can affect everyone else. Westchester does something, Suffolk does something, New York City do something, it affects everyone else. That is the reality. So, everything is closed, unless we say otherwise, and the most important thing - I just had this conversation with a local official. Look, people need government to work. Government has to be smart, and if it looks confused between the state and the county, or the state and the town, that's the wrong message for everyone. So, let's just be smart.
On testing and funding, those are the two areas we are working with our federal partners. Testing is going to require everyone to work together. Federal and state, state and locals by the way, we are starting the largest antibody test every done today in New York, the largest sample, but this has to be a multilevel government coordinative project because we have to do this on an ongoing basis. Also, on the funding issue, this is obviously a unique period in a lot of ways. We did a state budget in a way we have never done it before. Since our state didn't have any revenues, the way we did the budget is basically said, it's dependent on what we get from the federal government, and the federal government had promised funding all along. We said, whatever we get from the federal government will determine our state budget, right? Because the state has a $10 billion to $15 billion hole right now, and that has never been done before. It basically said, I will tell you the state budget when I know the state budget, and the state budget is going to be a function of whatever the federal government gives us. The federal government has not funded states to date. The National Governor's Association, bipartisan, headed by a chairman, Governor Hogan, Republican. I'm the vice chairman. We have said with one voice, you want the governor's to do the job, we need you to provide funding for state governments. There's now another piece of legislation they're talking about passing in Washington and, again, it doesn't have state and local governments in it. This week, we're going to do a state forecast, if they exclude state government again, our state forecast will project - without any federal funds, you can't spend what you don't have - if you were to allocate the shortfall relatively on a flat basis across need, you would be cutting schools 20 percent, local governments 20 percent and hospitals 20 percent. This is the worst time to do this.
Now, the federal government has said from day one, "don't worry. We're going to provide funding to the states." Yeah, don't worry. I'm worried because I've heard this over and over again. My job is very simple. I have one agenda. I have one purpose. I fight for New Yorkers. That is my job. I don't have any side jobs. I don't have any other places to go, people to see. That's all I do. I'm telling you, New Yorkers need funding for this budget because we can't do it otherwise. Washington is saying what, we want to fund small business. Yeah, great. You should fund small businesses. They want to fund financial services and large corporations and airlines and hotels. Yeah, that's all great. Fund all those businesses. But, at the same time, don't forget teachers and police officers and firefighters and transit workers and health care workers and nursing home staff. Those are the people who I fund with the state budget and you shouldn't make us choose between small businesses and large businesses and people who are on the front line, doing the work day-in and day-out.
I would even go a step further and I would propose hazard pay for front-line workers. We all say, "boy, they did a great job. The health care workers did a great job. The police, they're heroes." Yes, they are, but you know what, thanks is nice but also recognition of their efforts and their sacrifice is also appropriate. They are the ones that are carrying us through this crisis. This crisis is not over. If you look at who they are and the equity and fairness of what has happened, I think any reasonable person would say, "We should right this wrong."
Forty percent of the frontline workers are people of color. Forty-five percent in public transit, 57 percent of the building workers, 40 percent of the health care workers. People of color are also disproportionately represented in delivery services and child care services. The economy closed down - the economy did not close down. It closed down for those people who frankly have the luxury of staying at home. All those essential workers who had to get up every morning to put food on the shelves and go to the hospitals to provide health care under extraordinary circumstances, and the police officer who had to go out to keep you safe and the firefighter who still had to go out and fight the fire - those people worked and they went out there and exposed themselves to the virus.
Two-thirds of those front line workers are women. One-third come from low-income households. So they've been doing this work, they've been stressed, they're going home to a household often had 2 wage earners, one of them is now not working, they're living just on that one salary. And, after all of that, we see the infection rate among African-American and brown Americans higher proportionately than other groups. Why? Because they were out there exposing themselves. That's why. You can talk about health disparities, et cetera. But, I believe all the studies are going to wind up saying, "Yes, when you are home with your doors locked, dealing with cabin fever, they were out there dealing with the coronavirus." That's why they are more infected. Pay them what they deserve. I would say hazard pay, give them a 50% bonus, and I would do that now. Yes, airlines, also frontline workers.
Also, we have a need and responsibility to get the assistance we need to people in low income communities. We have—NYCHA is public housing in the city of New York, high concentration of people in one place. Many people in the small lobby, many people in elevators, many people in hallways, a higher number of people in the apartment, just a higher occupancy. That's where the virus spreads. We are going to set up a test program in NYCHA, where we're going to have on-site health services and testing in the New York City area, with New York City Housing Authority projects, working with local officials. We're doing it as a pilot program to see how it works. If it works well, we will go further with it. We have as you see Congressman Meeks, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Attorney General Letitia James, Speaker Carl Heastie, and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz who will be working on this and coordinating it, and I thank them very much. We're also going to bring 500,000 cloth masks to NYCHA. That is one mask for every person who is in public housing, and hand sanitizer, etcetera. Just so they have the necessary equipment they need to do the social-distancing and protection.
Personal opinion, not a fact, throw it in the pale, what we're are doing here, you know as a general rule, what we do determines our future, right? The smartest government is as smart as people are. That is how you shape your future, but this is cause and effect on steroids. What we do today will determine tomorrow and we are not going to need to wait to read the history books. We make smart decisions, you will see smart outcomes in two weeks. We make bad decisions, you will see bad outcomes in two weeks. So, when they say the future is in our hands, the future is really in our hands and we are going to get through this. We can control the beast. The beast will not destroy us. We can control the beast, great news. We have a lot of work to do to keep the beast under control, and we have a lot of work to do to reopen, but we are going to set the bar high, and we're going to reimagine, and what we reopen will be better than what we had before. Built back better, built back better, BBB. And that is what we are going to do because we are New York tough and tough isn't just tough. Tough is smart, tough is disciplined, smart is united, and smart is loving.
April 21, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces Elective Outpatient Treatment Can Resume in Counties and Hospitals Without Significant Risk of COVID-19 Surge Starting Next Week. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-announces-elective-outpatient-treatment-can
Announces State Will Take a Regional Approach to Reopening
Governor Will Meet With President Trump at the White House Today to Discuss Testing
Confirms 4,178 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 251,690; New Cases in 41 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced elective outpatient treatments can resume in counties and hospitals without significant risk of COVID-19 surge in the near term. Hospitals will be able to resume performing elective outpatient treatments on April 28, 2020 if the hospital capacity is over 25 percent for the county and if there have been fewer than 10 new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in the county over the past 10 days. If a hospital is located in a county eligible to resume elective outpatient treatments, but that hospital has a capacity under 25 percent or has had more than 10 new hospitalizations in the past 10 days, that hospital is not eligible to resume elective surgeries. If a county or hospital that has resumed elective surgery experiences a decrease in hospital capacity below the 25 percent threshold or an increase of 10 or more new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients, elective surgeries must cease. Further, patients must test negative for COVID-19 prior to any elective outpatient treatment. The State Department of Health will issue guidance on resuming elective surgeries.
Restrictions on elective surgery will remain in place in Bronx, Queens, Rockland, Nassau, Clinton, Yates, Westchester, Albany, Richmond, Schuyler, Kings, Suffolk, New York, Dutchess, Sullivan, Ulster, Erie, Orange and Rensselaer Counties as the state continues to monitor the rate of new COVID-19 infections in the region.
Governor Cuomo also announced the state will take a regional approach to reopening and will make decisions on which counties and regions to open and when to open them based on the facts and data specific to that area. Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will coordinate Western New York's public health and reopening strategy, and former Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will volunteer as a special advisor to coordinate the Finger Lakes' public health and reopening strategy.
It is essential that we continue to support hospitals and health care workers in all regions to ensure they have both capacity and supplies to treat COVID patients because this virus is by no means defeated.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
The Governor also announced he will be meeting with President Trump at the White House today to discuss testing.
"As New York continues to flatten the curve of new COVID-19 infections, we are now ready to lift the restrictions on elective surgeries in regions where hospital capacity and the rate of new infections do not present a significant risk of a surge in new positive cases," Governor Cuomo said. "It is essential that we continue to support hospitals and health care workers in all regions to ensure they have both capacity and supplies to treat COVID patients because this virus is by no means defeated."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 4,178 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 251,690 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 251,690 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
704
17
Allegany
30
0
Broome
205
6
Cattaraugus
35
1
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
25
0
Chemung
75
2
Chenango
79
1
Clinton
51
0
Columbia
113
2
Cortland
25
0
Delaware
49
0
Dutchess
2,331
47
Erie
2,147
38
Essex
21
1
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
27
0
Genesee
121
2
Greene
87
1
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
50
1
Jefferson
54
0
Lewis
9
0
Livingston
39
0
Madison
106
0
Monroe
1,070
16
Montgomery
37
2
Nassau
31,079
402
Niagara
260
5
NYC
139,325
2,519
Oneida
284
5
Onondaga
514
5
Ontario
72
1
Orange
6,561
79
Orleans
53
7
Oswego
49
1
Otsego
49
0
Putnam
605
6
Rensselaer
183
6
Rockland
9,568
111
Saratoga
257
3
Schenectady
273
4
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
7
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
120
10
Steuben
170
3
Suffolk
28,154
492
Sullivan
555
11
Tioga
37
0
Tompkins
119
0
Ulster
893
16
Warren
102
1
Washington
68
3
Wayne
51
1
Westchester
24,656
350
Wyoming
36
0
Yates
10
0
April 21, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces Elective Outpatient Treatment Can Resume in Counties and Hospitals Without Significant Risk of COVID-19 Surge Starting next Week. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-announces-11
Announces State Will Take a Regional Approach to Reopening
Governor Will Meet With President Trump at the White House Today to Discuss Testing
Confirms 4,178 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 251,690; New Cases in 41 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "When I say we have to move to help Western New York, yeah, there will be some places in the state where you hear a voice that says, 'No, no, no, we have to worry about ourselves. We have to take care of us and they're on their own the way we're on our own.' Not in New York. That's not how we operate. Nobody is on their own. We are one state, we are one family, we are one community, and we're there to help one another. So whatever Erie County needs, whatever Western New York needs, you have my word that the rest of the state will be responsive."
Cuomo: "New York, we make ourselves. This nation, we make ourselves -- World War I, World War II, the Great Depression -- some of the most tragic situations actually forged the character and the resolve of this nation. New York State is the same thing and we have to be smart enough to do the same thing here. And we will because we're New York tough."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced elective outpatient treatments can resume in counties and hospitals without significant risk of COVID-19 surge in the near term. Hospitals will be able to resume performing elective outpatient treatments on April 28, 2020 if the hospital capacity is over 25 percent for the county and if there have been fewer than 10 new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in the county over the past 10 days. If a hospital is located in a county eligible to resume elective outpatient treatments, but that hospital has a capacity under 25 percent or has had more than 10 new hospitalizations in the past 10 days, that hospital is not eligible to resume elective surgeries. If a county or hospital that has resumed elective surgery experiences a decrease in hospital capacity below the 25 percent threshold or an increase of 10 or more new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients, elective surgeries must cease. Further, patients must test negative for COVID-19 prior to any elective outpatient treatment. The State Department of Health will issue guidance on resuming elective surgeries.
Restrictions on elective surgery will remain in place in Bronx, Queens, Rockland, Nassau, Clinton, Yates, Westchester, Albany, Richmond, Schuyler, Kings, Suffolk, New York, Dutchess, Sullivan, Ulster, Erie, Orange and Rensselaer Counties as the state continues to monitor the rate of new COVID-19 infections in the region.
Governor Cuomo also announced the state will take a regional approach to reopening and will make decisions on which counties and regions to open and when to open them based on the facts and data specific to that area. Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will coordinate Western New York's public health and reopening strategy, and former Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will volunteer as a special advisor to coordinate the Finger Lakes' public health and reopening strategy.
The Governor also announced he will be meeting with President Trump at the White House today to discuss testing.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS are available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning everyone. Good to see you, good to be with you. Let me introduce the people who are with us today. From my right, Gareth Rhodes, who works with me in state government and who has been involved in this special effort from day one. From my immediate right, Dr. Jim Malatras, technically a doctor, not like a medical doctor, but still a doctor. To my left, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, my partner in state government, who has been a true treasure to the people of the State of New York. And to Kathy Hochul's left, Dr. Candace Johnson from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, which is where we are today in Buffalo. Roswell Park is one of the leading cancer institutes in the United States and a real jewel for the State of New York, and I thank her very much for their hospitality today.
Let me give you some of the facts today. One of the points we want to make today is, we're in Western New York, Buffalo. We've been talking a lot about New York City and the situation in New York City and Long Island and Westchester, and Rockland, the suburbs of New York City. But, just as we're seeing across the country, this virus presents a slightly different problem in different parts of the country. It also presents a different problem in different parts of the state. Overall, the total hospitalizations are basically flat from where they were yesterday. And as you see, the overall curve is on the way down, and that is good news certainly. The net change in hospitalizations is down. Not down as much as we would like. Change in intubations is down, and that's always good news because intubations means a person is on a ventilator. 80 percent of the time when people are on a ventilator, they don't come off the ventilator in a successful way.
The number of new people in the state who walked in the door yesterday or were diagnosed with COVID is 1,300. That is down and that's good news, relative to really bad news which is what was happening up until then, right. We have to remember our calculus of good, our definition of good has changed here. Good is now not terrible. But on an absolute scale, 1,300 people walk in the door with COVID on a single day in the State of New York, that would not be good news in any other context besides the context we're living in.
This is Erie County. Buffalo is in Erie County, New York. And you see the numbers, we had a dramatic increase in Erie County. And then basically a leveling, flat little uptick yesterday. Number of total hospitalizations in Erie, three-day average, again, basically flat. These numbers, we're not taking any of these one-day numbers, even three-day numbers, as absolute. This is a new reporting mechanism that just was put in place. So from a statistical point of view, I don't know exactly what the margin of error is, with all due respect to the great statisticians doing this. We've been watching the spread all across the state because this is like stamping out a brush fire. You need to run to where the fire is and put it out there. So we were watching for a spread of the fire from downstate New York towards upstate. Whenever we see a small fire starting, we jump on it right away. Testing, isolation, et cetera. But that's remained fairly constant, and that's also good news.
But the point that different regions of the country have different, quote unquote curves, the virus does not hit at the same time at the same rate. So you hear about different states in the country. And when they're going to hit their apex, when they're going to hit their top and when they're going to come down, it's different all across the country. It's also different across the state. We've been talking about states like they're uniform homogenous entities. Some are more homogenous than others. When I was in the federal government, I worked in every state. So you have a whole different variety of states. This state, we have very different regions within New York. When you say New York, people think New York City. Yeah, one of the densest places on the globe. You also have upstate New York where, in some counties, you have more cows than people. People don't think of New York that way. So, as you see variety across the country, we have variety across the state of New York. You have to watch each one of those individual curves and when does that region hit a high point and where is that? Because depending on that region's curve, is how you've got to calculate your strategy. You're looking at those curves - how long is the ascent up the mountain and then how long are we on that plateau and then how long is the descent from the plateau? Western New York, I believe we're on the plateau. Now the question is how long are we on that plateau and is it a plateau or might it still ascend? Downstate New York, it appears that we're on the descent. The question then becomes in downstate New York, how quickly do we descend?
The worst news and the ugliest part of my job these days is telling New Yorkers this news. In Erie County we lost 7 hospitals deaths yesterday for a total of 125. In the state, we lost 481 people. 452 in hospitals, 29 in nursing homes. Again, nursing homes are a central focus and priority for all of us going through that.
Where are we today? We're operating with two rules. First rule is do no harm. Second rule is start to plan the reopening. Planning the reopening is just that - plan the reopening. Understand it, calculate, calibrate it. Nobody's ever done it before. How do you do it? When do you do it? But first rule, do no harm. We paid a tremendous price to get where we are today and make the progress that we have made today. We've paid a tremendous price to control this beast. We closed down everything. People have worked tirelessly in the healthcare system and the first responders and the essential workers. You showed you can control the beast. Do no harm. Don't go backwards. That's the first point and then plan the reopening.
On the do no harm, you take a place like Erie County, any region in the country or in the state that is still on the ascent or on the plateau, beware of a hot spot. Beware of an increased need. In this state, what we've said is any need, anywhere in the state, the rest of the state will surge capacity and equipment and energy to help that part of the state. So, when downstate New York needed help, Upstate New York was there. If Upstate New York needs help or Western New York or Central New York or the North Country needs help, the rest of the state will be there. You have my word on that.
These crises, pressure brings out the best and the worst in people. I believe that, individually. You get to really see how a person responds at a time of crisis. You get a little snapshot of their character and of their foundation. It's also true of the collective, also true of society. And when I say we have to move to help Western New York, yeah, there will be some places in the state where you hear a voice that says, "No, no, no, we have to worry about ourselves. We have to take care of us and they're on their own the way we're on our own." Not in New York. That's not how we operate. Nobody is on their own. We are one state, we are one family, we are one community, and we're there to help one another. So whatever Erie County needs, whatever Western New York needs, you have my word that the rest of the state will be responsive.
Hopefully we're on this plateau, and on the other side of the plateau is a descent. So, we can manage it. But if it's not a descent and it's an ascent anywhere in the state, the rest of the state will be there, and part of it is, testing, testing, testing. I know it's a granular topic, but it's important. We're also going to have a regional calibration that we're going to make on hospitals. You have many hospitals that are very quiet. Some hospitals are actually laying off people, believe it or not, in the middle of this because they have no patients. We artificially stopped the number of patients going into a hospital because we ended what's called elective surgery, elective treatment. And therefore, people can't go into the hospital for an elective procedure. In those parts of the state and in those hospitals where the hospitals are laying off people because they're so quiet and they have that capacity and capacity for the virus is not an issue, we're going to allow elective outpatient treatment, which means the number of beds remain available because the number of people using those beds is still relatively minimal. And we're going to allow it in those hospitals and counties in the state that do not have a COVID issue or we couldn't need their beds in case of a surge. This will not include Westchester, Rockland, New York City hospitals, et cetera, because we have a real COVID problem there. It won't include Erie County, Albany County, or Dutchess and several other counties where we still need to protect those hospital beds in case we need them for COVID.
On testing, people need to understand this issue because it's going to be determinative and it's complicated and it's been somewhat politicized, and now you hear different arguments about testing. Here are the simple facts on testing. And again, testing is something that no one would have expected as an issue. Testing we do in this country and nobody really noticed, we have an old system. It's a private sector system. When you went to the hospital and the doctor said, "You have to have your child checked for this or you have to be checked for this." You go to a lab, you have your blood tested, that was the testing system. No one ever imagined that this testing system was going to become hyper relevant to survival and would need a capacity of 20, 30, 40, 50 times what the system was doing. So, this came out of the blue in many ways. It's one of the lessons we will learn, but for us it came out of the blue.
How does it work? You have national companies that are private manufacturers of laboratory equipment and their piece of equipment can operate their test kits, okay. There are a number of these private sector companies. They make a machine, they sell that machine to labs, a network of labs all across the nation. We have about 211 labs in New York State. They buy these machines from these national companies and they then have that machine. Sometimes they buy a number of machines from different manufacturers, and now they have a number of different machines. Some have higher output, some have lower output, but each one requires that you go back to that manufacturer to get a test kit and reagent that works for that manufacturer's machine, okay?
So, it gets very complicated quickly. There are different, what they call reagents, chemicals that you need for each manufacturer's test kit and each manufacturer's machine. The big labs will have bought a number of different machines from a number of different manufacturers, okay? So, these are some of the big manufacturers, not all of them. You hear about Abbott who has a new fast test. These companies are all working to come up with these tests now, who is faster, who is quicker, one-hour test, 20-minute test, 15-minute test, five-minute test. Every one of those manufacturers, you need to have their test kit and their reagents to operate on their machine. You have some labs that have five or six different manufacturers' machines. When you go to the manufacturers and you say, "I need you to increase capacity," many of the manufacturers are saying "I can't. I can't get enough reagents. I can't get enough swabs, these cotton swabs. I can't get enough vials. I just don't have enough material for my own test kits." That's the determiner of testing capacity, okay? And you're asking a system that -- let's say normally did 1,000 tests. You're asking a system that did 1,000 tests, by the way, I need 50,000 tests. So, they didn't anticipate this volume. Some of these manufacturers will say, "Look, I have a supply chain that is an international supply chain. I get my chemicals from china, I get my chemicals from here." So, that ability to ramp up is what we're all struggling with and every state is in charge of administering testing because the 200 labs in New York State are regulated by New York State.
I regulate the 200 labs. It's only appropriate that the state should be in charge of actual testing in the state. I agree with the federal government's position on that. I have 200 labs, I should come up with a system that says how many tests in Buffalo? How many tests in Albany? How many tests in Manhattan? How many tests in Long Island? That's my business. I should be held responsible. I should be held responsible for making sure those 200 labs actually deploy across the state in a smart way. Hold me responsible. Where it gets hard is when the labs that I regulate say the manufacturers are the problem. And then I call the manufacturers and the manufacturers say 'I can't do it because it's an international problem.' That's where we are now.
Last night I get home, I have my three daughters with me now, which is a joy 99.9 percent of the time. We're sitting there, we're watching the news. Governor Larry Hogan comes on the news. Great guy, Governor of Maryland, Republican Chairman of the NGA—National Governor's Association—I'm vice chairman, so I work with the governor. And Governor Hogan says 'I bought 500 test kits from South Korea.' And there's a picture of Governor Hogan at the airport, South Korea airliner, and Governor Hogan says 'I got 500 test kits from South Korea.' And my daughter turns to me and looks at me and says 'wow that was really smart.' And she just looks at me—doesn't say anything else, she didn't have to. Felt that immediate wave of guilt descend upon me. One of my other daughters, who's a little more pointed in life—a little more literal, said why didn't you think of that, Dad?
Why didn't you think of buying test kits from South Korea? So now I was really just feeling de minimis as a governor. Larry Hogan is a better governor. Why didn't I think of buying test kits from South Korea? Why didn't I think of buying test kits from Korea? From China? It's not what states normally are responsible for. God bless Larry Hogan. He, he really thought outside the box and was very creative, but that piece is where the federal government can help us. Take that national manufacturer and that supply chain for the national manufacturers and let the federal government figure out South Korea and China and international supply issues. Rather than have 50 states now figure out how to go be like Governor Hogan and figure out how to buy tests in South Korea. That's where the federal government should help, and that's the, that's the intelligent distribution of responsibility on testing. So the federal government's right: the states should take the lead. Yes. Partnership. Federal government you have to help us with this national manufacturer and the supply list. After you do the testing, states have a second big task, put together an army of tracers who then trace each person who tested positive. Who did they contact? And then isolate those people who you contact.
Also, talking about reopening—we're going to make reopening decisions on a regional basis. Based on that region's facts and circumstances about the COVID virus. In other words, just like some states will reopen before other states because they have a different circumstance when it comes to COVID and their status with COVID, it's also true across the state. North Country has a totally different situation than New York City. Central New York has a different situation. We operate as one state but we also have to understand variations and you do want to get this economy open as soon as possible and if a situation is radically different in one part of the state than another part of the state take that into consideration. That's what we're going to be doing. So the same logic that applies to the country applies to some states, this state, where you have those varieties across the state and we need to take that into consideration.
So the way we've been working on the economy in general across the state, where we recognized there's one state, yes, but there are regional economies within the state, and we've been working with each individual regional economy, we'll do the same thing on this phase. Let's talk about reopening economies in that regional context and coordinate it regionally. That's what we're going to be doing.
And again, I've said this statewide but I want all our regional partners to hear us. Let's not talk about just reopening. Let's not have gone all through this and all we're going to do is go back to where we were. How do you use this as an opportunity to learn the lessons and to build back better? That's what we have to do.
For Western New York we have my partner, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul who as everybody knows is from Buffalo. We'll ask her to take charge of Western New York, monitor the public health issues, make sure if there's a problem in terms of public health, we're marshalling all the resources from across the state to help Western New York and also to start to work on the reimagining and reopening plan for Western New York.
We're also going to ask Bob Duffy who worked with me in the State to volunteer, to be a special adviser to coordinate public health and reopening in the Finger Lakes, the Rochester area.
Last point, we've gotten through difficult situations before. Western New York, we went through seven feet of snow a couple years ago. That was fun. We learned from that. The state, we went through 9/11 which was a crushing experience but we learned from that and we're different and we're better. We went through Superstorm Sandy and we're the better for that. We've going to be the better for this. I believe that.
It's the hard times in life that actually make you better and make you who you are if you're intelligent enough to learn from them and to get the message from them. That's what we have to do here. We have to do it individually. We have to do it collectively. What did we learn about ourselves, about the world, about the country from this period that we're in? You get knocked on your rear end in life. It happens. You knocked on your rear end. It's going to happen. The question is, do you get up and if you get up, what type of person are you and did you learn from getting knocked on your rear end? Sometimes you get knocked on your rear end and you have nothing to blame.
Things happen in life. Health issues happen. Bankruptcies happen. Things happen. You get knocked on your rear end. Okay, get up. Get up. Have the strength to get up. Have the wisdom to learn from the experience and be a better person for it. Michael Jordan documentary is on TV, I am a big Michael Jordan fan. He doesn't make the Varsity team, Michael Jordan. Bad coach, maybe. But he got knocked on his rear end. He was disappointed. What did he do? He worked, worked harder, practiced more - Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan wasn't just born. God didn't say here he is. He made himself the great player that he is. And New York, we make ourselves. This nation, we make ourselves, World War I, World War II, the Great Depression, some of the most tragic situations actually forged the character and the resolve of this nation. New York State is the same thing and we have to be smart enough to do the same thing here. And we will because we're New York tough. But not just tough. It's easy to be tough. It's hard to be smart and disciplined and unified and loving. That's what's harder than being tough. But we're all of the above. That's why we're special.
April 21, 2020.
Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on MSNBC's Deadline: White House Following His Meeting at the White House. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/audio-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-guest-msnbcs-deadline-white-house-following-his-meeting
Governor Cuomo: "The big issue was testing. As everyone knows, that's going to be the next step as we go forward and how do we separate the responsibilities and the tasks on testing vis-a-vis the state and the federal government and the acknowledgment that we all need to work together on this. It has to be a real partnership and I think we had a very good conversation."
Cuomo: "A state has laboratories in the state. The state regulates the labs. The state should determine where tests are taken and how they're allocated. The tracing is a state function. But we need help from the federal government to make the supply chain work ... and we said that we would like to work together in New York State to take our current rate of testing - we do about 20,000 tests a day on average - and double that, to go to 40,000. It's a very aggressive goal and we said that we would work together to meet that goal so it was a very good conversation."
Cuomo: "I also spoke to the President about the need for the states to get funding. That's not in the current bill that the Congress is considering but the states are in desperate shape and everything's being left to the states to do the reopening, reopening, reopening, and then they don't provide any funding to the state government. The President seemed very open and understanding of that and said the next piece of legislation that passes, he's going to be open to that."
Earlier today, Governor Cuomo was a guest on MSNBC's Deadline: White House with Nicole Wallace following his meeting at the White House.
AUDIO is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available below:
Nicole Wallace: Governor, how did your meeting go and what did you say to the President?
Governor Cuomo: The meeting went well and I think it was productive. The big issue was testing. As everyone knows, that's going to be the next step as we go forward and how do we separate the responsibilities and the tasks on testing vis-a-vis the state and the federal government and the acknowledgment that we all need to work together on this. It has to be a real partnership and I think we had a very good conversation. A state has laboratories in the state. The state regulates the labs. The state should determine where tests are taken and how they're allocated. The tracing is a state function. But we need help from the federal government to make the supply chain work for the manufacturers, on these reagents, on the test kits, et cetera, and we said that we would like to work together in New York State to take our current rate of testing - we do about 20,000 tests a day on average - and double that, to go to 40,000. It's a very aggressive goal and we said that we would work together to meet that goal so it was a very good conversation.
I also spoke to the President about the need for the states to get funding. That's not in the current bill that the Congress is considering but the states are in desperate shape and everything's being left to the states to do the reopening, reopening, reopening, and then they don't provide any funding to the state government. The President seemed very open and understanding of that and said the next piece of legislation that passes, he's going to be open to that.
Nicole Wallace: What was your approach with him? I mean, you obviously know that Nancy Pelosi has walked into that building and spoken truth to him and been attacked and ridiculed. Donald Trump has alternated between praising you, highlighting your come accomplishments, and attacking you. How did you attack the meeting with the President?
Governor Cuomo: You know, the same way I approach most of these situations. It's just honest, Nicole. It was just honest and open and the President is communicative about his feelings and I'm communicative about what I think. But, look, for the President and for myself, this is not about anyone's emotions about anyone else. Who cares what I feel, what he feels. We have a tremendous job that we have to get done and put everything else aside and do the job and that was the tone of the conversation - very functional and effective.
Nicole Wallace: Did the President say anything about his press coverage?
Governor Cuomo: No. We talked about the issues, we had a broader conversation about the coronavirus, et cetera. He wanted to know what was working in New York, what was not working in New York, what are our challenges ahead were, what we needed from the federal government, how we could see the state and federal government working together. We talked about what the federal government did do during phase one when we were ramping up to develop hospital capacity. We took the Javits Center and the Army Corps of Engineers did a fantastic job putting in 2,500 beds. The President sent up a navy ship, the Comfort, a hospital ship which was very good to have in case we had overflow but I said we don't really need the Comfort anymore. It did give us comfort but we don't need it anymore so if they need to deploy it somewhere else they should take it.
Nicole Wallace: What was your goal, I mean, were you invited to the White House or did you ask to come down and talk to the President face to face?
Governor Cuomo: I wanted to have a face to face conversation. This issue of testing and who does what on testing, we had to get this ironed out, so to speak. This is a very big issue. It's important for states that have a more difficult time reopening, like New York. It is how you educate yourself as you're making reopening decisions and it's a frontier that we have never done before. This is all basically private sector labs and private sector manufactures, and how do you get them to increase their volume tenfold, when it's not really a government function at all. And how can the federal government help and how can the states help? That is the issue for the country right now, I think.
Nicole Wallace: What's your - how do you see testing as a piece of bringing our state back? Do you see one test once a week, do you see daily testing? Do you see a test to establish a baseline before you contemplate reopening any sector of life in New York State? Can you talk about how you see testing, why you think testing is this threshold issue for opening your state?
Governor Cuomo: Initially it's a benchmark, right, where are we? Are we on the increase, are we on the plateau, are we on the descent? The only way we track that now is really by the number of hospitalizations, that's the only hard data you have. We can extrapolate that.
Nicole Wallace: And that's after people are already sick.
Governor Cuomo: That's right.
Nicole Wallace: Do you want how many asymptomatic people are many your state too?
Governor Cuomo: Ideally, you would. But the first piece of information as a benchmark, is the infection rate going up, is it going down or is it stable? You don't find that out without testing.
Nicole Wallace: Does the president share that, does he seem to understand that, because the way he talks about these briefings, it's, "Everyone that wants a test can have a test"? He said this wearing a MAGA hat the CDC a month ago, and then the latest take on testing from the president was if they want to test the governors have to test -- does the president see testing the same way you do?
Governor Cuomo: Well, you know, I'm in New York that has one of the most intense situations in the country if not the most intense situation. The sense I got from the President he was deferential to the needs of that state and the full spectrum of states, because some states are in different situations. Look, some regions in my state are in a very different position. Even in New York, we have some counties where we have more cows than people, right? So, density is not an issue. So, he was more understanding of different states having different problems and testing is a vehicle for those states that have the bigger issues.
Nicole Wallace: Did you feel any sense that he wanted you to open faster than you think you're going to be able to?
Governor Cuomo: No, not that he communicated. He was inquisitive about what we were doing and what we thought and what we needed, but he never editorialized on what he thought was an appropriate timeline.
Nicole Wallace: What do you think in terms of just managing expectations about kids going back to school, about any the sort of soft openings that less densely populated regions have considered? What is your thinking right now on the timeline for any of those steps?
Governor Cuomo: I said to New Yorkers yesterday, "Don't get arrogant and don't get cocky just because we have shown we can control the beast," which we have, the infection rate has reduced. We have a long way to go. To make those decisions you have to know that your stabilizing the rate of infection and that's where testing comes in, or you're reducing it. You have to fully accept the new protocols, masks, social distancing, et cetera, and we need to rely on the data to make these decisions. And again that's why you go back to testing. Everything is closed, schools are closed. Frankly to reopen a school would be a major undertaking at this point. We are regionally coordinated in that we're acting in concert with other states so we don't have people going back and forth between or among states because different states have different rules. But status quo, let's plan reopening, plan a reimagined reopening where we learn the lessons of what we just went through. Unless we get data that says we're proceeding cautiously and safely, I think it has to be data-driven.
Nicole Wallace: Governor, I'm curious. New York is my adopted state. As you're talking we're showing pictures of empty Times Square, empty financial district of our city shut down to protect our neighbors and our loved ones. Donald Trump lived in New York a lot longer than I did. Did he have any emotions that he expressed to you about seeing his hometown like this?
Governor Cuomo: Oh yes, he made exactly that point, Nicole. He spoke about how he's never seen the city this way. And I agreed with him, I'm a born and bred New Yorker, more years than I care to remember, and I have never seen this under any circumstance. I mean, you can be in the middle of a tremendous snowstorm, you get more New Yorkers out than you get out now. And that's I think a fact that people forget, it's one thing for government to say, okay, it's safe to go out. If people don't believe it's safe they're not going to go. So, the data and the testing works both ways. It can give people a sense of security. When they open some of these other places people didn't come out even though the government said you could come out. So, it informs everyone.
Nicole Wallace: I'm sure you read the front-page piece in today's New York Times, with some questions about whether some of the things that make New York City, New York City - Broadway, the density, the subway, the restaurants - that some of those things may be threatened for a longer period of time. What's your take on when some of those things come back, theaters, public transportation, restaurants, bars?
Governor Cuomo: Well, look, it's anyone's guess. But if you don't have a therapeutic or a vaccine, I think you'll see a significant lag in those areas, right? Because density is what created this issue. New York City is one of the most dense places on the globe, That's why you can't compare any other place to it. And density is a problem in this situation and whatever we do or whatever government says, I just think people are going to be very weary before they walk into a Broadway theater or they get in a crowded subway car. They're going to want to know that there's a therapeutic, a vaccine, but some real safety measure before they subject themselves to a situation like that.
Nicole Wallace: So, my last question, Governor, I watch your briefings every day. We obviously cover you as a national figure. I think most New Yorkers would argue that our state is a national story even when there's not a pandemic. But how are you - What's guiding you? I mean, are you looking to your team, are you out talking to people? Are you surrounded by scientists? Do you have an open line to Dr. Fauci? I mean what does your kitchen cabinet look like right now?
Governor Cuomo: The kitchen cabinet is very broad right now because no one knows. There's no expert. There's no one person who's been through this. So, I think the best advice is to talk to a number of people and then adapt it to your particular circumstance in New York. But my health commissioner, the health team, the statisticians, the data people who look at this, because a lot of this is trying to determine where we are and where it's going. Dr. Fauci certainly has tremendous experience and he's been very generous with his time. So for me it's been following the data and the science and trying to get ahead of this virus for the first time with the help of health officials, and then we have had an operational nightmare that we had to make sure the hospitals weren't overwhelmed and we had to organize and manage the hospital system in the State like never before. And what people forget it's not a government system. These are private hospitals that have never been managed by government. And now we're trying to get to them to all coordinate. Go ahead -
Nicole Wallace: No, go ahead. Sorry.
Governor Cuomo: No, so there was both sides. There was an operational challenge and then this unknown with the virus and the spread and the numbers.
Nicole Wallace: You know, I wonder if you defended the hospital workers from the unfounded allegations that Donald Trump made a couple of weeks back they were doing something akin to hoarding, or something worse, with medical supplies. Has he backed off his suspicion of New York-area hospital workers? Did that come up at all today?
Governor Cuomo: That did not come up, that was a passing issue, where the President made a comment that they were going out the back door. I don't know if it's a common saying beyond the Northeast. I don't know how widespread that expression is. It suggests that they maybe - somebody maybe be taking them wrongfully, going out the back door, but it was a passing comment and, you know, you can't - you can't rebut everything, so sometimes you let it go in life.
Nicole Wallace: Did you use the meeting to rebut anything that he's still saying? Did you express any concern about his support for protesters over the weekend? I know there aren't any in our state yet, but did you raise any of that or did you stay focused on other topics?.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah, I stayed focused on what we were there to talk about and for me the substantive agenda was testing, who does what, how do we get it up to scale and somebody has to stand up for funding for the state. The president's relying on governors, working with governors, which he is and the Vice President has been working with governors and now we've determined that it's up to governors to reopen. They have a tremendous financial problem and you can talk about small businesses, and airlines, how about police, how about fire, how about teachers, how about funding the reopening?
Nicole Wallace: Someone said it's like funding post-9/11 New York, over and over and over again. Governor, thank you so much for getting on the phone and sharing what sounds like a very productive conversation on the subject of testing and funding for New York and I hope we can keep a direct line to you to understand what's happening in the state of New York. Thank you, sir.
Governor Cuomo: My pleasure, Nicole. Thank you.
April 21, 2020.
Following Meeting With President Trump, Governor Cuomo Announces Partnership With Federal Government to Double Testing Capacity in New York State https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/following-meeting-president-trump-governor-cuomo-announces-partnership-federal-government
Governor Cuomo: "Testing is the best way to inform and educate yourself as you go through the reopening process so you can watch not just hospitalizations ... but also testing so you can look at the infection rate across the state and see how the infection rate is increasing."
Cuomo: "To quantify that situation in the State of New York, we now do, on average, about 20,000 tests per day. ... our goal is to double the 20,000 to get to 40,000 tests per day. We need several weeks to ramp up to that, but it is a very aggressive goal. ... That's our goal and it was a very productive conversation."
Cuomo: "To have a real progress you have to sit down and go through the various steps of testing and actually decide who does what and that's what we did this afternoon. We agreed that the state government should be responsible for managing the actual tests in their own laboratories."
Cuomo: "The problem with testing and bringing testing up to scale has been the national manufacturers of the equipment who make the testing kits that they have to send to the state labs so the state labs can actually perform them. Those are done by national manufacturers. The national manufacturers have said they have a problem with the supply chain to quickly ramp up those tests. ... That is where the federal government can help. ... Let the federal government take responsibility for that federal supply chain for the national manufacturers. That's what we agreed in this meeting."
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good evening - night shift. To my right Gareth Rhodes; to my immediate right Jim Malatras; to my left Melissa DeRosa; and Rob Mujica to her left.
We had a meeting at the White House this afternoon and it was very productive and it was positive and we got a lot done.
I've been talking for a number of days as have most governors about testing as the next phase that we have to enter into. We're starting to talk about reopening and planning reopening.
Everyone is obviously concerned about how you reopen and if you reopen in a way that is too rushed and you're not prepared you could actually see the infection rate go up which is the last thing that anybody wants. Testing is the best way to inform and educate yourself as you go through the reopening process so you can watch not just hospitalizations - which we'll have that data - but also testing so you can look at the infection rate across the state and see how the infection rate is increasing.
Also, testing for employees who want to go back, employers who want to know whether or not the employees are actually negative of the virus. Testing has been a very big task to undertake. There's also been a lot of back and forth between the states, my state included, and the federal government about who does what on testing and who is responsible.
I said this morning that I think in many ways people are just talking past each other because the federal government is helping on testing and states are responsible for testing but testing is a very complicated issue with a lot of levels. To have a real progress you have to sit down and go through the various steps of testing and actually decide who does what and that's what we did this afternoon.
We agreed that the state government should be responsible for managing the actual tests in their own laboratories. We have about 300 laboratories in the State of New York. We regulate those laboratories. It's up to a state to determine how many tests, where those tests should be done, New York City versus Buffalo versus Long Island, et cetera, the staff to do those tests, how often you do the tests - those should all be state decisions and state responsibilities.
The antibody test, which is one of the tests, how do you use those, when - that should all be up to the states.
The tracing function - that is the function after testing that actually traces people who are positive, who did they come in contact with, to isolate them - that's all the state's responsibility.
The problem with testing and bringing testing up to scale has been the national manufacturers of the equipment who make the testing kits that they have to send to the state labs so the state labs can actually perform them. Those are done by national manufacturers. The national manufacturers have said they have a problem with the supply chain to quickly ramp up those tests. They need swabs, they need vials and they need chemicals, quote, unquote reagents.
That is where the federal government can help. States cannot do international supply chains. I guess they could, but not in this time frame and it's not what we do. You shouldn't have 50 states competing to do international supply chains. One of my colleagues, Governor Hogan the Chairman of the National Governor's Association who is the Governor of Maryland - Republican, good man - he was bringing tests in from South Korea. Very creative and proactive on his part, but that's not what state's normally do. Let the federal government take responsibility for that federal supply chain for the national manufacturers. That's what we agreed in this meeting.
That is an intelligent division of labor, in my opinion. Let each level of government do what it does best and it ends this back and forth, what do the states do, what does Washington do, who's responsible, et cetera.
To quantify that situation in the State of New York, we now do, on average, about 20,000 tests per day. Our goal, which is very aggressive and ambitious but set it high and then try, our goal is to double the 20,000 to get to 40,000 tests per day. We need several weeks to ramp up to that, but it is a very aggressive goal. That is our current system at maximum. Our current laboratory system, 7-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day. The maximum our system, as it exists, can do is that number. That's our goal and it was a very productive conversation. Again, that is the biggest single task we have to do that is identifiable from today. It ends the whole back and forth and the finger pointing in a very fair and smart way. It's a smart resolution so I feel very good about that. If we could double our tests that would be a home run. That is a really, really big deal.
We also talked about funding to the states. The legislation that the Congress passed did not have funding for the states. It passed additional money for small business and that's great and we need that and that's a positive, but it did not fund state governments, which to me is just a mistake, frankly. Fund small businesses, fund airlines, but you don't fund police, you don't fund fire, you don't fund healthcare workers, you don't fund teachers, you don't fund schools, you cut the aid to schools in this state. You know the state governments are broke, to use a very blunt term. You know the state governments are now responsible for the reopening and the governors are going to do the reopening, and they have no funds to do it. So, we talked about that, the President said he understood the issue and that he would work very hard to get funding for the states in the next piece of legislation that passes. And we hope there is another piece of legislation.
I also told the President, from my parochial point of view, we had a conversation with Secretary Mnuchin and the President, that there is a match. What's called a local match for FEMA funding. When the FEMA does something, the local government should match that funding by twenty five percent. I said to the President there is no way New York can pay that match because we don't have the funding period and it is disproportionate to New York, because we've had such a much larger number of cases than any other state in the United States. That it falls disproportionately on New York, which disproportionately is dealing with this crisis in the first place. We get all the hardship and then we get a bill because we had the hardship. Makes absolutely no sense and as a practical matter we couldn't pay it anyway. The President said he understood and that he would work to waive the local match. Secretary Mnuchin said he understood. Secretary Mnuchin was very supportive and I thank him for his support and the President said that he understood and that he would take care of it and I believe that he will, because he did understand it and that's a big deal for the state of New York.
Again, the incongruity the state that had the most pain and death should get a bill because they endured pain and death. I mean it makes no sense. So, that was a lot and it was complicated, but vitally important and the resolution was good across the board.
We met not just with the President, but with members of his team because a lot of this is granular and detailed and if you don't work out the details there is no conceptual agreement, right? It has to be on the details, so people actually know what we're agreeing to and it was on that level. So, I thank all the people on the President's team who made themselves available and work this through with us in detail and it's a really positive, positive resolution.
April 22, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo and Mayor Mike Bloomberg Launch Nation-Leading COVID-19 Contact Tracing Program to Control Infection Rate. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-and-mayor-mike-bloomberg-launch-nation-leading
New York's Contact Tracing Program Will Be Done in Coordination with Downstate Region as well as New Jersey and Connecticut
Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University to Build Online Curriculum and Training Program for Contact Tracers
NYS DOH Will Work with Bloomberg Philanthropies Team to Identify and Recruit Contact Tracer Candidates, Including DOH Staff, Investigators from State Agencies, Hundreds of Downstate Tracers and SUNY and CUNY Students in Medical Fields
Partnership with Vital Strategies' Resolve to Save Lives to Provide Operational and Technical Advising
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Mike Bloomberg today announced a new nation-leading COVID-19 contact tracing program to control the infection rate of the disease. Mike Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies have committed organizational support and technical assistance to help build and execute this new program. The contact tracing program will be done in coordination with the downstate region as well as New Jersey and Connecticut and will serve as an important resource to gather best practices and as a model that can be replicated across the nation. There has never been a contact tracing program implemented at this scale either in New York or anywhere in the United States. The program will launch immediately.
As part of this effort, The Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University will build an online curriculum and training program for contact tracers. The New York State Department of Health will work with Bloomberg Philanthropies to help identify and recruit contact tracer candidates for the training program, including staff from the State Department of Health, investigators from various state agencies, hundreds of tracers from downstate counties and SUNY and CUNY students in medical fields. Bloomberg Philanthropies will also work with New York State to establish an expert panel to review the work of the program, and create a best in class model that other states can use for contact tracing.
The effort includes a partnership with Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies, to provide operational and technical advising to New York State Health Department staff. They will assist in the development of call center protocols and digital solutions to rapidly catalyze progress and expedite workflow; and determine best ways to increase community engagement and understanding of the role of contact tracing as a public health tool.
One of the most critical pieces of getting to a new normal is to ramp up testing, but states have a second big task - to put together an army of people to trace each person who tested positive.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Bloomberg Philanthropies has committed $10.5 million, along with organizational support and technical assistance, to help build and execute this new program.
"The numbers indicate we are past the apex of this pandemic, and while we start our work to re-open our economy we must ensure we are doing it in a way that does no harm and does not undo all of the work and sacrifice it has taken to get here," Governor Cuomo said. "One of the most critical pieces of getting to a new normal is to ramp up testing, but states have a second big task - to put together an army of people to trace each person who tested positive, find out who they contacted and then isolate those people. This partnership with Mike Bloomberg to create an unprecedented, nation-leading contact tracing program will do just that and serve as a model for the rest of the nation."
"We're all eager to begin loosening restrictions on our daily lives and our economy. But in order to do that as safely as possible, we first have to put in place systems to identify people who may have been exposed to the virus and support them as they isolate," said Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP, three-term mayor of New York City. "I'm honored to partner with Governor Cuomo and New York State to help do that, by creating a new contact tracing program on a widespread scale. Coupled with far more testing, it will help us drive the virus into a corner -- saving lives and allowing more people to begin getting back to work."
As the state continues its work to flatten the curve, large-scale contact tracing is critical to safely and responsibly reopening communities while preserving the public health. Contact tracing helps prevent the spread of a virus by using testing to confirm if someone has COVID-19, interviewing that person to identify people they may have been in contact with during their illness and during the few days before symptoms began, reaching out to their contacts to alert them to their risk of infection and then referring contacts to medical providers and asking non-ill people to stay home for 14 days to be sure they don't spread COVID-19 to others.
Contact tracing is a proven public health tool which can profoundly help "box in" the virus. Several countries, such as Germany, Singapore and South Korea, have used contact tracing effectively amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, those countries have been able to re-open for business quicker and have experienced fewer deaths and lower rates of infection.
April 22, 2020.
Governor Cuomo Announces Financial and Administrative Relief for All New York State Hospitals. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-financial-and-administrative-relief-all-new-york-state-hospitals
NYS Department of Financial Services Will Direct Health Insurers to Immediately Pay Outstanding Hospital Claims and to Work with Neediest Hospitals to Provide Additional Financial Assistance
DFS Directive Will Also Suspend Preauthorization Requirements for All Hospital Services and Prohibit Retrospective Review of Hospital Claims
Confirms 5,526 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 257,216; New Cases in 43 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the New York State Department of Financial Services will direct health insurers to provide cash flow relief to, and ease administrative burdens on, New York State hospitals in response to COVID-19. Relief provided to hospitals during the pandemic includes insurers' immediate payment of outstanding accounts receivables, suspension of preauthorization requirements for all hospital services, and prohibition of retrospective review of claims.
DFS will issue a circular letter directing health insurers to:
Immediately process for payment outstanding hospital claims;
In collaboration with DFS, work with hospitals in insurers' network to provide additional financial assistance if needed and feasible, focusing on community, rural, and safety-net hospitals;
Suspend preauthorization requirements for all services performed at hospitals, including lab work and radiology, until June 18, 2020;
Not conduct retrospective reviews of hospital claims, until June 18, 2020, subject to limited exceptions; and
Not make medical necessity denials related to emergency department and inpatient hospital treatment for COVID-19.
"We are at a profound moment in this crisis where we are finally passing the apex of the curve, but if we make a bad move now it's going to set us back," Governor Cuomo said. "We're beginning to make plans on how to re-open our economy and start the return to the new normal, but in the meantime we have to ensure our health care system and our hospitals that have been so critical in combating this virus have the support they need. The Department of Financial Services is going to issue a directive to health insurers to provide financial and administrative relief to our hospitals so they can continue safely and quickly providing the care that is so desperately needed right now."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 5,526 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 257,216 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 257,216 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
737
33
Allegany
30
0
Broome
219
14
Cattaraugus
37
2
Cayuga
36
0
Chautauqua
26
1
Chemung
75
0
Chenango
79
0
Clinton
51
0
Columbia
117
4
Cortland
25
0
Delaware
50
1
Dutchess
2,391
60
Erie
2,233
86
Essex
22
1
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
28
1
Genesee
122
1
Greene
87
0
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
53
3
Jefferson
54
0
Lewis
9
0
Livingston
39
0
Madison
106
0
Monroe
1112
42
Montgomery
38
1
Nassau
31,555
476
Niagara
268
8
NYC
142,432
3,107
Oneida
301
17
Onondaga
526
12
Ontario
73
1
Orange
6,690
129
Orleans
56
3
Oswego
49
0
Otsego
49
0
Putnam
611
6
Rensselaer
186
3
Rockland
9,699
131
Saratoga
264
7
Schenectady
280
7
Schoharie
20
0
Schuyler
7
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
123
3
Steuben
171
1
Suffolk
28,854
700
Sullivan
561
6
Tioga
39
2
Tompkins
119
0
Ulster
913
20
Warren
108
6
Washington
73
5
Wayne
52
1
Westchester
25,276
620
Wyoming
40
4
Yates
11
1
April 22, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo and Mayor Mike Bloomberg Launch Nation-Leading COVID-19 Contact Tracing Program to Control Infection Rate. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-and-mayor-mike
New York's Contact Tracing Program Will Be Done in Coordination with Downstate Region as well as New Jersey and Connecticut
Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University to Build Online Curriculum and Training Program for Contact Tracers
NYS DOH Will Work with Bloomberg Philanthropies Team to Identify and Recruit Contact Tracer Candidates, Including DOH Staff, Investigators from State Agencies, Hundreds of Downstate Tracers and SUNY and CUNY Students in Medical Fields
Partnership with Vital Strategies' Resolve to Save Lives to Provide Operational and Technical Advising
Governor Cuomo: "Once you trace, and you find more positives, then you isolate the positives, they're under quarantine, they can't go out, they can't infect anybody else. This entire operation has never been done before. So, it's intimidating. You've never heard the words, "testing, tracing, isolate," before. No one has It's what we have to do nowWe've put together armies before. Never a tracing army, but we can put together people, we can organize, we can train, and we can do it. And yes, it's a big deal, but it's what we have to do and it's what we will do."
Governor Cuomo: "Every decision we make is going to affect how we come out of this, how fast we come out of this. So, in this moment, more than any other, truth, not what you would like to see, what you'd hope to see, not emotions, truth and facts, truth and facts. That's how we operate here in the State of New York. Truth and facts. Give me the truth and give me the facts. And that has to guide our actions. Period."
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Mike Bloomberg today announced a new nation-leading COVID-19 contact tracing program to control the infection rate of the disease. Mike Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies have committed organizational support and technical assistance to help build and execute this new program. The contact tracing program will be done in coordination with the downstate region as well as New Jersey and Connecticut and will serve as an important resource to gather best practices and as a model that can be replicated across the nation. There has never been a contact tracing program implemented at this scale either in New York or anywhere in the United States. The program will launch immediately.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS are available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. Full crew today. Today is day 53. It's important to get a sense of bearings. Fifty-three days since we closed down New York. Fifty-three days since this nightmare happened. Such a disorienting period. Fifty-three days. Is it a long time or is it a short time? Well, if you look back compared to what other generations have gone through or other periods of crisis in this country, 53 days is nothing. We've dealt with really intense, terrible situations for a long time in the past. It feels very long and it's very stressful. That's across the board.
You have families that haven't had a paycheck come in in a couple of months, meanwhile the bills keep coming in. That's tremendous economic anxiety and insecurity. By the way, it's exactly right. When do I go back to work? When do I get another paycheck? That's a pressure that people feel in the household. Even the good part of it.
Well, my family's together I have all my three girls, in my case, with me and that's nice and that's good news. But you put even the family together and you lock them up, cabin fever, everyone has their own stress that they're dealing with. Everyone's trying to figure out their life and they're all together in this intense period. Even that is stressful. I feel it in my own household. My daughters are getting tired of my jokes, believe it or not. How that can happen I have no idea, but somehow they manage to do that. Even have trouble now picking a movie at night because the rule is if you pick a bad movie then you are on movie probation. You don't get to pick the next movie. Everybody is on movie probation in my house now. That's a problem.
Even the dog, Captain, is out of sorts and relating to stress. Maybe there's too many people in the house and he's having trouble adjusting. Captain doesn't like the boyfriend. I said I like the boyfriend so it's nothing that I said, but all sorts of tension that people are living with. Real tension and then just the day-to-day stress.
Yes, it's a terrible period of time, I get it. We have to deal with it. When you look at the reality of the situation, we are actually in a much better place. We're not home yet, but we're in a better place. The really bad news would have been if we concluded that we couldn't control the spread of the virus. That was a possibility. You looked at all those initial projections. How do you know we could control the spread? We could have done all those close down measures and it didn't work and the spread continued. That would have been bad news.
Relatively, we're in a relatively good place. In downstate New York, the curve is on the descent. The question is now how long is that descent. Is it a sudden drop off? Is it one week, two weeks, three weeks, six weeks? We don't know. Better to be going down than to be going up. Let's keep that in mind. We are going down. How fast, we'll find out, but we're in a better place.
Hospitalizations numbers are coming down. Intubations are coming down. Number of new people coming into the hospital every day is still troublingly high, but better than it was, still problematic. Number of lives lost is still breathtakingly painful and the worst news that I have to deliver everyday and the worst news that I've ever had to deal with as Governor of New York. At least it's not going up anymore and it seems to be on a gentle decline.
Make no mistake, this is a profound moment in history. Our actions are going to shape our future and you're not going to have to wait for a 10-year analysis, a retrospective, to find out how our actions affected our future. What we do today, you will see the results in three, four, or five days. You tell me what the people of this state and this country do today, you will see the results in the number of hospitalizations in just a few days. We get reckless today, there are a lot of contacts today, unprotected contacts today, you'll see that hospitalization go up three, four, five days from today. It is that simple. and it's that pressing, that every decision we make is going to affect how we come out of this, how fast we come out of this. So, in this moment, more than any other, truth, not what you would like to see, what you'd hope to see, not emotions, truth and facts, truth and facts. That's how we operate here in the State of New York. Truth and facts. Give me the truth and give me the facts. And that has to guide our actions. Period.
We had a productive meeting at the White House yesterday. Productive visit, everybody says productive visit. Very few people come out and say unproductive visit, right. What does that mean, productive visit? To me a productive visit means we spoke truth, we spoke facts, we made decisions, and we have a plan going forward. And that was accomplished yesterday. And I feel good about it personally. Because it's what should have happened, right? Big issues on the table. In the political process, well he said this, she said this, and you get into a he said, she said, or you get into a blame game, finger pointing. But the meeting was very productive.
And by the way, these are people in the White House who politically don't like me. That's the fact, right. You see the president's tweets. He's often tweeted very unkind things about me and my brother. Politically, he does not, we've had conflicts. back and forth. But we sat with him, we sat with his team, and that was put aside. Because who really cares how I feel or how he feels? Who cares? Get the job done. I don't care if you like him or he likes you. We're not setting up a possible marriage here. Just do the job. When you're at war, you're in a fox hole. Nobody says, well, do you like the person you're in the fox hole with? Who cares? You protect the other person in the fox hole, then you get out of the fox hole and you take the hill, charge up the hill. And that's how we should be operating now. I don't care what your politics are, I don't care what you think about my politics. We both have a job, let's do the job. And that was the spirit of the meeting yesterday. And it was very productive on what were very contentious, unclear issues. So it was very good.
The main issue was testing, which I'll talk more about in a second, but we also talked about state funding. All the governors are united, Democrat and Republican. National Governors Association, every governor is saying the same thing. We have to have state funding. The states have a role basically in a deficit situation, and we need funding from Washington. They've passed bills that help a lot of Americans, that's great. Help small businesses, that's great.
But you have to help state governments because state governments fund the people that the federal government can't fund. State and local governments, we're funding police, we're funding fire, we're funding teachers, we're funding schools. You can't just ignore them. And when you don't fund the states, then you're saying to the states well, you have to fund them, and the states have already said in one united choir, we can't. We can't. So we talked to the president about that.
The president gets it. The president says he's going to work very hard in the next piece of legislation. But, you know, I've been in Washington. I was there for eight years. The congress has to insist that this is in the legislation. And yes, they passed funding for small business and funding for testing, and that's good. That is a good thing, i's not a bad thing. But it's not enough either. And they don't come back every day, the Congress. It's hard to get them to come back. And this was not the time for baby steps. This is when you should be taking bold action. The action is proportionate to the issue. And you haven't had a problem that's any bigger than this that any of the senators or Congress people have ever dealt with. Well, then your action should be proportionate and responsive to the problem. And it wasn't.
The President also agreed, which is a big deal for New York, to waive what's called the state match for FEMA. Normally a state has to pay 25 percent of the FEMA cost. That would be a cruel irony for New York and adding insult to injury. New York had the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country, therefore our cost of FEMA was the highest cost in the nation. Therefore, New York should pay the highest amount. How ironically cruel would that be? You're going to penalize us for having the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country. And at the same time that Congress passed a piece of legislation not even funding the states. So, the President agreed to waive that. That's a very big deal. That's hundreds of millions of the dollars to the State of New York.
But the big issue was testing. We've been talking about testing, tracing, and then isolating. And that will be the key going forward. That's how you're educated and have some data points as you're working your way through this reopening calibration, right? How does it work? You test the person, if the person winds up positive, then you trace the person's contacts. Contact tracing. You have to start with a large number of tests, and we set as a goal yesterday to double the number of state tests, to go from 20,000 on average to 40,000. That is just about the maximum capacity of all the laboratory machines in the state.
We have private labs, about 300 of them that we regulate, they have purchased the machines over time. These are expensive machines. If you took every machine we had, and they had all the supplies they needed from the national manufacturers, and you ran that machine seven days a week, 24 hours a day, how many tests could you do? About 40,000. So that's, if you put your foot to the floor, you brought the engine up to maximum RPM, up to the red line, you brought it up to 6,000, assuming the red line was 6,000, and you held it there, 7 days, 24 hours a day, at red line, how many tests could you do? 40,000. Now, there's a lot of buts and ifs in there. But the machine has to stay together for 7 days, 24 hours a day. You have to have enough people feeding the machine. But that is our maximum potential. So where did we set the goal? At our maximum potential. Why? Because we need to. "Well, it's unrealistic." Might be a little unrealistic. But I'd rather set the bar high and try to get there, and whatever we get is what we get.
But once you do all those tests, every positive you have to go back and trace. And the tracing is a very big, big deal. Once you trace, and you find more positives, then you isolate the positives, they're under quarantine, they can't go out, they can't infect anybody else. This entire operation has never been done before. So, it's intimidating. You've never heard the words, "testing, tracing, isolate," before. No one has. We've just never done this. There are a few textbooks that spoke about it, but we've never done it. And we've never done anywhere near this scale. So, it is an intimidating exercise. But I say so what? Who cares that you've never done it. That's really irrelevant. It's what we have to do now. So, figure out how to do it! Well, we have to put together a tracing army. Okay. We've put together armies before. Never a tracing army. But we can put together people, we can organize, we can train, and we can do it. And yes, it's a big deal, but it's what we have to do and it's what we will do.
We want to operate on a tri-state basis. I've spoken to Governor Murphy in New Jersey who's doing a great job, and Governor Lamont in Connecticut is doing a great job. They've been very great neighbors to New York. It's best to do this tracing on a tri-state area. Why? Because that's how our society works. The virus doesn't stop at jurisdictional boundaries. "Oh, I'm at the town of Brookhaven, I stop here." No - the virus doesn't say that. The virus just spreads. And you look at the spread of the virus, it is in a metropolitan area. So, we'll work together. This will be a massive undertaking.
Good news is, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has volunteered to help us develop and implement the program. Mayor Bloomberg was Mayor of New York City, as you know - three terms. As governor, I worked with Mayor Bloomberg. He's developed an organization where he works with mayors across the world, literally, providing them guidance. He has tremendous insight both governmentally and private sector business perspective. Remember, his company, Bloomberg, went through the China close down, open up, they went through the European close down, open up. So, he's had quite a bit of experience in this area. It's a very big undertaking, and we thank him very much for taking it on, because it is going to require a lot of attention, a lot of insight, a lot of experience, and a lot of resources.
We're also going to be partnering with Johns Hopkins and Vital Strategies in putting together that tracing operation. It will be coordinated tri-state and downstate. Why downstate? Because, again, downstate operates as one area. About 25 percent, 30 percent of the work force that goes into New York City comes from outside of New York City. I have a house in Westchester. I work in New York City. Who's supposed to trace me? Westchester or New York City? If I turn up positive, yeah, my residence is in Westchester County, but I work in New York City and I would have contacted many more people in New York City than I would in Westchester.
Because if I work in New York City, that's where I'm contacting people. I live in Suffolk, but I work in New York City. I'm a police officer who has a house in Rockland, but I work in New York City. I'm a firefighter, who lives in Rockland or Orange, but I work in New York City. I live in New Jersey, but I work in the city. I live in the city, but I work in Connecticut. Right? So all those interconnections. If you're going to do these tracing operations, you can't do it within just your own county. Because you'll quickly run into people who are cross jurisdictional. So understand that going in. Blur the governmental jurisdictions because they don't really make sense. Put everybody together, work together. Harder done than said, but 100 percent right, there's no doubt about that.
We're going to take the initial tracers that people have now. The state has about 225 today. Rockland has 40, Westchester 50, Nassau 60, New York City 200. They are going to work together. Mayor Bloomberg is going to start with that core, but we have to build on that because we'll literally need thousands. SUNY and CUNY have 35,000 medical students that we're going to draw from, but we have to put together a significant operation because the numbers get very big very quickly here.
Today is also the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. When you look at many of the numbers that we're finding, and you look at the disparity between the African-American community, Latino community that has a higher rate of infection than the white community. You start to ask why and you start to study those health disparities. You also find that in those areas where the coronavirus infection rate is higher, they tend to be minority areas, and by the way, those minority areas tend to be the places where we cited plants that pollute the asthma rates. Respiratory illnesses are three times higher among people in the African-American community, three times the asthma rate, respiratory illness rate. They're getting more coronavirus, they're a higher percentage of essential workers. You see how these two factors come together and make a bad situation worse. Let's learn from that. It's one of the lessons that we have to learn, and we have to go forward and we will.
The positive message is look how well we do when we actually focus and we make a decision and we say, "We have to do this." If you had told me two months ago that I would be able to stand up before the people of the state and say by the way, we have to close down everything, businesses closed, everything closes, everybody go into your homes, close the door, lock it, don't come out. I would have said it's not going to work, it's not going to work. You're not going to get 19 million New Yorkers. We're just a defiant group of people, questioning everything, they're not going to do it. Well, maybe if you give them all the facts and they understand, and they'll do it and we did. Look at the potential. Look at the possibility of what you can actually do. Well, then can you really make a real difference on these issues we've been fighting for decades, but we haven't really made the progress we need to--climate change, the environment. Yes, you can.
Last point, my phone is ringing, I'm talking to many local officials. They feel political pressure to open. I understand. I said yesterday that we're going to make decisions based on a regional basis, because just as the nation has different states and different positions, New York State has different regions and different positions. North country is one set of facts, facts. This is about truth and facts. North country has one set of facts, Western New York has a different set of facts, Capitol District has a different set of facts. Make decisions based on the facts, and the facts are different in down State New York in many areas. Also make them on the facts and realize the consequence of what you could do opening one region, but not other regions and how you could flood that one region and give them a host of problems they never anticipated. But make the decision on the facts. I get it, don't make the decision based on political pressure. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that.
This is a profound moment. We make a bad move it's going to set us back. I get the political pressure and I get the political pressure that local officials are under. We can't make a bad decision. I get the pressure, but we can't make a bad decision. Frankly, this is no time to act stupidly, period. I don't know how else to say it and I've said it innumerable times to local officials on the phone. I get the pressure, I get the politics. We can't make a bad decision and we can't be stupid about it. This is not going to be over any time soon. I know people want out, I get it. I know people want to get back to work. I know people need a paycheck. I know this is unsustainable. I also know that more people will die if we are not smart, I know that. I have to do that count every day of the number of people who passed away. We're not going to have people lose their life because we acted imprudently. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that and I'm not going to allow the state to do it. I'm not going to have the obituary of this period be, well they felt political pressure, so they got nervous and they acted imprudently. That's not who we are.
So, I've said to them look, if you look at any of the facts, the 1918 flu, they're talking about it now. There can be waves to this, right? You walk out into the ocean, you get hit with that first wave, oh great, I'm done. The wave hit me, I'm still standing. Beware, because there can be a second wave, or there could be a third wave. So, don't be cocky just because you got hit by a wave and it didn't knock you off your feet. There can be a second wave and if you're not ready for the second wave, that's the wave that's going to knock you down, because you're not ready for it. So, that's what I'm worried about.
Also, to the local officials and local politicians, I have no problem with them blaming me. It's a very simple answer. I say to everyone whenever they say I agree with you, it's the governor. Because, by the way, it is the governor. It is. These are state laws that are in effect, the local officials can't do anything about them anyway because they can't contradict a state law. It's true, so the local official can say, "It's the Governor. Blame him." It's true and it will stop us from doing something that's counterproductive and it'll also stop us from getting into a dispute between me and the local government where the net message will be to the people there's disagreement or confusion among government. This is not the time for disagreement of confusion among government.
The state laws govern. I get the local political pressure. Blame the Governor, it's the truth and the local laws can't counteract state laws anyway. To this political pressure. This is a quote that I think people should take to heart:
"When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then they ceased to be free."
Edith Hamilton originally, Edward Gibbon in the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. "When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then they ceased to be free." We have a responsibility today to ourselves and to others. There is a codependency and a mutuality among people in society that is more clear and distinct than we have ever seen it. You sneeze, I get sick. You sneeze, I get sick. It is that close a connection.
You have a responsibility to act prudently vis-a-vie other people. Because you're not just putting your own life at risk. You're risking my life and my children's life and my parent's life and you don't have that right. You have to act responsibly and to advocate for total irresponsibility, let's all be irresponsible, no. Not here, not now.
April 22, 2020.
Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on WAMC Northeast Public Radio With Alan Chartock. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/audio-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-guest-wamc-northeast-public-radio-alan-chartock-2
Governor Cuomo: " People need to believe that their government is working and believe in its competence because that's the only they have. That's the only thing they have, that our leaders know what they're doing. Why do so many people watch my boring briefing? Because they want the information."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was a guest on WAMC Northeast Public Radio with Alan Chartock.
AUDIO is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available below:
Alan Chartock: Good afternoon, Doctor.
Governor Cuomo: Good afternoon, Governor. Can you hear me?
Alan Chartock: I will contribute. I will contribute. You've convinced me you need a new phone system.
Governor Cuomo: We do, we do. I don't know if you know the old army term, a fubar, which means fouled up beyond all recognition.
Alan Chartock: Is that what you mean?
Governor Cuomo: Yeah. One word, that's what it means. Hey, tell me what's going on in the New York City subways? I read a piece, I think it was in Reuters, I'm not sure, where they were telling me that the subways have now become the new go-to place for those people who are homeless, as opposed to the homeless shelters which have been set up. Is that true?
Governor Cuomo: Well look, overall, Alan, we're in a place where we've never been right. On the New York City subways, the number of robberies are up. And the policing apparently has been down because so many NYPD have had illness because of the coronavirus. The MTA actually brought in security, private security firms, to provide security, it's gotten so bad. I can't remember when that has ever happened. Maybe it's happened, but I don't remember it. And I'm going to tell them today, I'd rather have private security firms. If they need it we could sent State Police to help the MTA. We already have State Police working with the MTA. And the MTA was supposed to hire more police. But rather than have private security firms, if they need it, I'd rather send police officers who are trained and we could send state Police.
Alan Chartock: What's the danger here? The danger that somebody would get hurt, or that something will get out of hand?
Governor Cuomo: Well, crime, they say the subways are the canary in the coal mine, right. So you always watch crime in the subways because when it starts to go bad, it starts to go bad in the subways first. I think that's the general impression. And this is an aberration, this period, NYPD is fewer people because of the coronavirus, fewer people are on the trains. But, you can't have a situation where you have fewer people on the trains and a rise in certain crimes. The shortage of personnel caused the MTA to bring in the security firm, but a security firm, you know, they're not police, they're not train, that's not what they do. And handling the public in the subways is a very tricky situation and you have to have a balanced approach. So I feel more comfortable with State Police. As I said, we have them there already. They are trained police. They've been working in the New York City area. So I'd rather send more State Police rather than have, introduce private security to work with the MTA police and the NYPD police.
Alan Chartock: Now, as I understand it, you have the most appointments to the MTA. Is there any friction between you, for example, and the mayor in all of this?
Governor Cuomo: No, I don't think it's, no, not at all. I think it's just circumstantial. We had seen an increase The NYPD, we had seen an increase in crime in New York City. The NYPD and the mayor said it was because of the bail laws that were in effect. Those laws have now changed, so it can't be that. I think it's just circumstantial. I think the police absentee rate has gone up because of the virus, no fault there. Why it's disproportionate to the subways, I don't know. But I'm just not comfortable with the private security firms, I think that would be a last resort and I don't think we're at the last resort yet.
Alan Chartock: Gotcha. Hey, you know, everyone is talking about you and the president, that you went down there. You asked for the meeting, as I understand it, right?
Governor Cuomo: Yes.
Alan Chartock: What did you want to accomplish?
Governor Cuomo: I wanted to figure out this issue about testing, which is the new frontier. No one knows testing, we've never done it before - we actually have but on a much smaller scale. But we have to bring testing up to scale very quickly, it's going to be a really impossible task, but it's also an essential task to help on the re-openings and to stabilize public health. There was a back and forth, "The federal government wasn't responsible, it's up to the states." The states say, basically on a bipartisan basis, they need help from the federal government. And there was, everyone was just missing each other, we don't have time to waste. I have been spending a lot of time getting testing up to scale. We are doing more testing in New York than any state in the country. We're doing more testing in the State of New York than most other countries on the globe per capita, Alan, so we know what we're talking about with testing. And I just wanted to cut to the chase with the White House, we do need the federal help, but to sit down - what is this function called testing? Who does what? What should the states do? What should the federal government do? And let's stop the back and forth between the federal government and the states, no more finger pointing, let's just figure it out. And I'll tell you the truth, look, the president and his people don't love me, right? That is a factual statement.
Alan Chartock: And vice-versa.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah, I was going to get to the vice-versa. The president has made his feelings about my politics clear, and I've made my feelings, my disagreements with the president clear. And the conversation has been heated and direct, and that's the way it's been for years. But I'll tell you the truth, they put that aside, we dealt with the issue on the merits and we actually came to a real agreement where we are going to try to work together, we defined tasks, who does what. And we're going to try to double the amount of tests we're doing, which is a very aggressive undertaking to go from 20,000 per day to 40,000 per day. But look. They put aside their feelings and their emotions and they focused on the job at hand, and I respect them you know.
Alan Chartock: Who was the 'they'? Was it Mnuchin? Who was there?
Governor Cuomo: Secretary Mnuchin was there. Mark Meadows, the Chief of Staff, was there. The president was there. We had a series of discussions. Dr. Birx was there who does the briefings on the Coronavirus Task Force. Admiral Giroir was there. Jared Kushner was there, who knows New York, who was very helpful in expediting a lot of issues. So, you know, all the main players were all there and it worked. And the reason I am saying it was good and surprisingly good, because really Alan, that's the way it should be. Who really cares how I feel about the president or how the president feels about me?
Governor Cuomo: Who really cares about how I feel about the President or the President feels about me? Who cares about how -
Alan Chartock: I care. I look at the television. I think the guy is a monster. I yell at the television and I say get off of there you are terrible. And so I am assuming, since you have feelings too, and you've already expressed them. That you might not be happy either with these guys. And yet you have got to sit in a room with them and pretend that you can get stuff done.
Governor Cuomo: But you have to. You have to because, look, we use the analogy of a war. And it is a war. People are dying. You are in a foxhole with someone. Nobody says "well do you like who you are in the foxhole with? If you don't like him then don't defend him. If you do like him then defend him." You are in the foxhole. You are in the foxhole. Here is the person. It is not about your emotions. It is far weightier than your personal feelings. Do your job in the foxhole. Charge the hill. Get up to top of the hill. Take the hill. That is your job. Do your job and put your own personal feelings aside and deal with them sometime down the road when you have the luxury of dealing with your emotions. That is how it should work in crisis and that is how it worked yesterday.
Alan Chartock: What about Bloomberg? Now how did that happen? All of a sudden you are telling us that the former NYC Mayor will be involved in a tri-state effort to trace and isolate. What exactly is he going to do? And secondly, how did it come about?
Governor Cuomo: We have to undertake this testing, tracing, isolation. It is hundreds of people, newly trained, never been done before. How do you trace a person quickly, find all their contacts who may be positive, get them to isolation, coordinate with local health departments to make sure they're following up on the quarantine, and you have to do it for the tri-state area and you have to do it tomorrow. It is an enormous undertaking.
Alan Chartock: So, who called who? Did you call him or did he call you?
Governor Cuomo: I don't know how the conversation started. I know Michael Bloomberg has been very engaged in doing good things since he was Mayor. I worked with the Mayor obviously when he was mayor for a number of years. And he is a good fellow and he was a good manager with good people, and that is what we need now. And he was willing to come forward because he wanted to help because he is a New Yorker and he wants to do his part. I appreciate that and respect it. And he has tremendous capacity, tremendous experience. He also was running a company that went through the China shutdown and open up and went through the European shutdown and opening up. So he has seen this. He has been there. He knows what worked and what didn't work. And he is willing to help and God bless. I need help.
Alan Chartock: So, you really don't remember whether you picked up the phone and called him or somebody else called him or he called you? I think that's important. That's why I am asking.
Governor Cuomo: No, but it didn't start with me. It started with Melissa DeRosa, the Secretary to the Governor, brought the idea to me. She had been talking to them. I don't know how it started.
Alan Chartock: She is terrific by the way. I just thought that I would mention that.
Governor Cuomo: She is a superstar. She really is a superstar.
Alan Chartock: It is unbelievable the way she is always ready during these press conferences and what she does. Okay, so will you be talking to Bloomberg on a regular basis? Or how is that going to work? Who is going to handle that?
Governor Cuomo: Yes, I'll be talking to Mike. Yes.
Alan Chartock: And he is apparently putting $10 million of his own money into this at least?
Governor Cuomo: At least, yes, because again, we have Johns Hopkins, et cetera, and Mike has worked with them and funded their organization so there is an infrastructure that is already in place but he is an enormously capable person obviously and this is an essential task and as I said New York needs help where we're doing these things that we've never done before. They have to be brought to scale on a level never imagined. So get as many good people to help as you can.
Alan Chartock: Can I got a place I probably shouldn't go with you? I just thought I'd ask about this - there used to be a lot of people who say well, Andrew tough guy, Andrew is too tough, I don't like him, and yet now so many of those people including a wonderful doctor I was talking to today said, I never liked him but now I really love him and I've great respect for him and I wrote him a letter. Have you had a personality change?
Governor Cuomo: No. Has the doctor?
Alan Chartock: No, but here you are, it's like Eisenhower before the Normandy invasion. Here you are, has this changed you is the question, and I think it's a fair question.
Governor Cuomo: Yes, but let's do this on two levels. Do I operate any differently in my job? No. I do the same press conference the same way, the same PowerPoint that they all ridiculed by the way for years, and then I'm with Dr. Birx in the White House yesterday and she says those PowerPoints are so good because people need to have both the visual as well as the auditory because they process differently. I said, thank you, Doctor; I wish you were in New York. But anyway, I did the same thing, Alan. You know me 100 years. I do exactly the same thing. Now, government matters more to people now than before. It always mattered to me and I always thought it was an art form and I always thought it had great potential to do great things but, you know, people weren't there. Government became like a boutique cocktail party discussion but it wasn't highly relevant and now, yeah, it matters and competence matters and performance matters and it's a matter of life and death so their perspective changed, not mine. But on your question of have I changed—
Alan Chartock: Yes, that's the question.
Governor Cuomo: This is a humbling experience, you know. It is 15,000 people dying. 15,000 people dying and you can't do anything about it. You can't protect your children. Your brother gets sick. There's nothing you can even do about it. Friends are in the hospital. You can't even go see them. I mean it is, you think you had any control of your own life, of others, and man plans and God laughs and I mean one days it's all a mockery. You control nothing. You're Governor of a state. You're trying to help people. Over 400 people died yesterday so despite all your efforts, bring hospital capacity up to 90,000 frontline workers, everyone does everything they could do - it was a beautiful manifestation of social compassion and mobilization and still you can't save lives. I mean that is a really sad reality to be faced with.
Alan Chartock: Well you have a hell of a job. Let's face it. It's a hell of a job. You have a fairly large staff that works.
Governor Cuomo: And still you can't save lives. I mean that is a really sad reality to be faced with.
Alan Chartock: Well you have a hell of a job. Let's face it - you have a hell of a job. You have a fairly large staff that works for you. you mentioned Melissa DeRosa who's so terrific and all the other people - do you ever lose your temper? Do you ever say, "Hey wait a second, let's get this right, come on folks, let's go."
Governor Cuomo: Yeah, I have a capacity to lose my temper. I have a high standard - more so when I was younger to tell you the truth.
Alan Chartock: That's what I meant.
Governor Cuomo: Well, is there a mellowing over years? Yes. That is true - it was true with my father, it's true with me, it's true with most people. But in this immediate situation? No, I have not lost my temper at all. Losing a temper is almost a luxury. Any emotion is a luxury, right? "I feel bad, I feel sad, I feel angry, I feel frustrated." Who cares how you feel? Just do the job now. Put all those nice emotions in a box and we'll deal with them down the road. So no, whatever it's been, 53 days, no. But you don't have the luxury of emotions. Nobody cares and nobody should care. Just do the darn job, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And then we'll figure it out.
Alan Chartock: You keep saying, "We'll deal with that later, we'll deal with that later." Should people be scared if they screwed you during this time or screwed around with you?
Governor Cuomo: Be scared of what?
Alan Chartock: You.
Governor Cuomo: What - that I'm going to get them in the afterlife? What am I going to do? What recrimination is there?
Alan Chartock: Get them in the afterlife, I love that. So, look, Mitch McConnell, not one of my favorite people in the world, said today that struggling state and local governments should declare bankruptcy rather than federal aid to stay afloat and said the aid was a Blue State Bailout. What do you think?
Governor Cuomo: That is one of the saddest, really dumb comments of all time. Okay, let's have all the states declare bankruptcy - that's the way to bring the national economy back. And then hyperpartisan "blue state." No, not "blue" state, not "red" state, states where people are dying. Why don't we think about that? Not red and blue. Red, white and blue. They're just Americans dying. The coronavirus doesn't' infect Democrats or Republicans, it just infects Americans. When are they going to stop with the partisanship? Not even on life and death? I mean it's so ridiculous, and for them not to fund the states. It's not like the states, I put the money in my pocket. They funded small businesses. Great, good move. How about police? How about fire? How about teachers? How about schools? "The governors have to reopen." Okay, do you want states bankrupt as he just said when we are supposed to be doing reopening? You want to reopen the economy, Mr. McConnell so everybody gets their job back? But the people you put in charge of reopening, the governors in the states, should declare bankruptcy? That's how you want to reopen? By bankrupting the states? That's going to get people back to work faster? I mean it's just a really dumb statement.
Alan Chartock: There have been protestors that have been coming around the Capitol, honking their horns, saying, "We want back in. We don't want you to stop us from doing anything we want to do". Do you suspect as I do, I certainly do, that the Trump people are putting them up to this?
Governor Cuomo: Look, do I think politics is behind it? Probably. Gambling, yes. I'm not surprised and look, do they express a frustration that is real? Yes. The frustration is universal. I haven't gotten a paycheck, the bills keep coming, the bills are stacking up, I don't know when I'll go back to work, I don't know if I'll have a job when I go back to work. I don't know if my business will be there. I have high anxiety and I can't stay in the house any longer. I get it. The question is what do you do about it? It's so easy to express the frustration. So I let everybody go back to work and then more people die. Well that's not okay. It's just not okay. Not after our grand accomplishment, which has been controlling the spread of virus, because we did all of the above. Close down, double the hospital capacity, front line health care workers doing a phenomenal job, police go out there and keep us safe and get sick. All of this we should throw away the accomplishment because now we're frustrated and we're emotionally bothered by staying in place? No, that's not the right response.
Alan Chartock: Do they get you angry? These folks and the honking horns and cars.
Governor Cuomo: No, I don't care. Again, forget anger. Anger we do when they get a vaccine. After the vaccine we get very angry for a prolonged period of time. But we don't have that luxury now. No, they do pressure local governments and what we have to watch is the local officials. First, the local officials all want to be able to say, "Well, I'm in charge here. I make the rules in my town, in my village, my city, my county." They're feeling political pressure and my phone rings with them on the other end. They say, "I have a lot of political pressure here." To them I say, number one, now is no time to do anything stupid. Number two, don't worry about it because you have the greatest excuse in the world: You don't have the legal authority to make any of these decisions.
The state emergency order says, in essence, the local officials can't open their own schools and they can't open their parks and their whatever they want to do. So, they have a perfect out. Just say I can't do it, blame the Governor because it is me. If they're feeling political pressure, they can't do it legally. The law is on their side, they can say they would love to do it, but the Governor is stopping me. Just point at me.
Alan Chartock: Is there anybody in particular you'd like to name right here, right now who has gotten you on the phone and who you find who's really gone over the - is there a name you want to give us?
Governor Cuomo: No names. No names. But look, I get the political pressure. I get it, I get the desire to show you're in control of your elected subdivision. I get that. But then I say to them, look, you say you're going to open your schools. I'm going to say, "No, you're not." Now what happens? You don't open your schools and all you've communicated to the public is chaos and confusion and political division, which is the last thing we should be communicating now. People need to believe that their government is working and believe in its competence because that's the only they have. That's the only thing they have, that our leaders know what they're doing. Why do so many people watch my boring briefing? Because they want the information.
Alan Chartock: It's not boring, it's terrific.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you for saying that.
Alan Chartock: I'd like to ask you a question. I'd like to know from last week, since you are on the floor, on the cover of Rolling Stone and now you're a rock star - a lot of people think so. I saw your sister-in-law talking about how this long line of people want to date you, for whatever that's worth. Can you remember what the first album you ever bought was?
Governor Cuomo: Let's get back to this long line of people who want to date me. Do we have names on that list? Do you have any names there?
Alan Chartock: You give me your names, I'll give you my names. That must have been quite a thing to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Not since you were picking up cars in your John Travolta jacket, back in the day, have you been this distinguished by a major cultural group like Rolling Stone. It's kind of gone to you - the kids must have loved it.
Governor Cuomo: First of all, I still have my John Travolta jacket and I still wear it. It is now cool, by the way. Now they call it cool. Did you see how terrible the picture was? The picture was so bad and it was a great likeness, which actually made it worse.
Alan Chartock: I actually thought it was quite distinguished and quite an honor to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Anybody can be in the New York Times or one of those places, but Rolling Stone? That puts you in a whole other league, Governor, and I think you should accept that for what it's worth.
Governor Cuomo: I looked at that picture - I saw my father's face when I looked at that picture.
Alan Chartock: We all do that. That's amazing. That shouldn't have bothered you, right? I mean, you love your father. I can seldom think of anybody who loves their parent more. You know, I've often written and said that you both love him and you compete with him. Do you think that's fair?
Governor Cuomo: Oh, I don't compete with him. I know you say that and I know you think that and I know Freudian blah blah blah. I have nothing but pure love for that man. Whatever he did, we did together. Positive or negative. That's why I took the criticism of him to heart while he was in office and after. Because I was part of whatever he did and he was part of whatever I did. What do you think that I wasn't talking to him when I became governor? It wasn't a one sided relationship. Whatever I did, he was part of it. We did that marriage equality bill. He was so happy, so proud. The infrastructure work he loved because that was one of the great criticism of him, right? Post-defeat where they all came out, all the critics and all the Monday morning quarterbacks. "Well this is what he didn't do, he was a governor of words but no action, no accomplishment. All he did was the rest stops on the thruway." All that ugly nastiness in this business. I endured all of that with him and he was part of what I did. There was no competition.
Alan Chartock: Well, you say you're running for a fourth term. He couldn't make that fourth term. Now a little bit competitive?
Governor Cuomo: No. Look, I'm saying I think I'm good at doing this. I want the people to hire me again. I don't want to do anything else, Alan. Go to Washington -- I've been there. I did that. I don't want to do that again. I want to do my best service. When the people of New York say we've had enough of you, fine. Then that's that.
Alan Chartock: You say you want to test 19 million people. Can you really do that?
Governor Cuomo: No.
Alan Chartock: I mean there's 8 million people in New York, right?
Governor Cuomo: No. You can't do that. You'll never get past -- look, if your maximum is 40,000 a day, you know, so your maximum if you did that seven days a week. What're you going to do it, six days a week. So, you do 250,000 per week. You do a million a month. You know, how long can you do this? How long until a therapeutic or until a vaccine? You'll never get there, but you do the best you can and you set the bar high. You know, that's what I do.
Alan Chartock: So, I'm still puzzled about how you are doing all of this. You know, you turn on the television and there you are, doing a terrific job I may say, and then you're here for us at WAMC. We're very proud of this, by the way, and you know, do you ever rest? I mean is there ever a moment when you say, "Okay, I'm just exhausted." You talk about having extra time to talk to your kids, but I don't know where that's coming from because all I do is see you working.
Governor Cuomo: Well, the kids are there. The kids are just restless, roaming. Roaming and restless, and I get home and they want answers: "When does this end? What're you doing? Can't you end it now? Can you end it next week? I have places to go, people to see, dad. I can't hang out with you anymore."
Alan Chartock: Yeah, well that happens, right. What about A.J. Parkinson? Now, A.J Parkinson, as you know, was a fabulous philosopher.
Governor Cuomo: Yes, fabulous.
Alan Chartock: Yes, fabulous and made all kinds of headlines. There are those people who falsely accuse your father of having made up A.J. Parkinson.
Governor Cuomo: Never. Never. What a false accusation.
Alan Chartock: That could not be. But the other day you came up with a rule, a law, and it sounded like something A.J. Parkinson may have come up with. You know, it was a law about how you treat your son-in-law. No, not your son-in-law, but your daughter's bub, and it sounded like a particular A.J. Parkinson moment.
Governor Cuomo: Well, I'll tell you what's funny. I quoted A.J. Parkinson last week on the screen. Nobody said a word.
Alan Chartock: Is that right?
Governor Cuomo: Yes, nobody said a word, which means they are not students of A.J. Parkinson.
Alan Chartock: Oh no. Well, some of them are really not with it because some people actually think there is no A.J. Parksinson, but we know there is. It was one of your father's most brilliant inventions, because everybody knows Parkinson's Law and everything else. So, when he came up with A.J. Parkinson, it was amazing. There was quiet there too. I think it was the New York Times who finally figured out, or suggested probably falsely that there was no A.J. Parkinson.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah, to which you could never prove. It was so Mario brilliant, right? Prove there is no A.J. Parkinson. First of all, there are A.J. Parkinson's. There are numerous A.J. Parkinson's. It could be Andrew John Parkinson. It could be Aaron Judah Parkinson. There are A.J. Parkinson's, so go prove that no A.J. Parkinson said that. I dare you.
Alan Chartock: Governor, I've taken up far too much of your time because of the little problem we had in getting started today and I do apologize for that. I know how valuable your time is and I'm sure you have something else to do right now, right?
Governor Cuomo: Always do, always do, you know being governor. This is why we get the big bucks. Take care of yourself, doctor. Get a new phone system. I will contribute, you have convinced me.
Alan Chartock: You're the best. Thanks, bye.
Governor Cuomo: Thanks, bye.
April 23, 2020.
Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/audio-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-guest-daily-show-trevor-noah
Governor Cuomo: "You tell me how many people go outside today and touch other people, I will tell you how many people walk into a hospital three days from now. The cause and effect is that tight. This virus communicates and transfers that quickly and that precisely."
Cuomo: "So, you take a situation like New York City where social distancing cannot happen by definition. Nobody gets six square feet of real estate, right? You don't get six feet on a subway car or on a bus or sidewalk. You will see those numbers go up. It is an impossible balance, Trevor. It's impossible to make people, to make both sides happy, if you will. And you just have to accept that. And for me it's going to be about the data. We're going to do testing. We're going to look at the hospitalization rate. We're going to look at that death rate. And you don't start to reopen until you haves those numbers under control."
Earlier tonight, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was a guest on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
AUDIO is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available below:
Trevor Noah: Governor Andrew Cuomo, welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show.
Governor Cuomo: Pleasure to be with you. I am a big fan.
Trevor Noah: Well, thank you very much. I think everyone is a big fan of yours right now because, more than ever during this pandemic, people have sought out leaders who communicate effectively and seem to know what they're trying to do. Nobody has all the answers about coronavirus, but people look for leaders who know what they would like to do. Let's start off with New York. Where does New York stand right now in terms of the numbers and in terms of its trajectory?
Governor Cuomo: Well, the good news is we have shown that we can control the spread of the virus, right? Which people take for granted now, but I wasn't always so sure. We could have taken all these measures, closed down, stay home, and we could have seen that spread continue to go up. That would have been a really frightening place, but that was a possibility. We showed that we can control the spread. It went up, the so called plateau would hit a flat spot and now we are on the downside of the plateau. The question is how fast is that decline and how long does it take to make the decline? We have about 1,300 people per day, new diagnoses, coming into the system. We lost about 474 people yesterday which is a horrific number, but it's - The only good news is it is less than the previous numbers of people we lost. And the hospitalization rate is coming down. We have about 16,000 people in hospitals. So, the numbers are all on the decline and that's the good news. How long does it take until that number gets to a small enough level where you can sleep at night and not worry about it? Could be two weeks, could be three weeks, could be six weeks.
Trevor Noah: You are balancing the pressure of the people who want to and need to get back to earning a living and also, you know, the pressure of keeping people safe as a leader. How are you weighing these numbers? Is there a point when you say the risk is worth taking to go outside?
Governor Cuomo: You put the question very well. And often the question is more important than the answer, and here is one of those cases, I think. That is the balance. The pressure that people are under is phenomenal. It is traumatic. This is traumatic for people and that's the way I think about it. You are right, the economic pressure, you have no paycheck, but meanwhile they are still sending the bills. The bill collector is an essential worker and they are piling up on your desk. You don't know when you will go back. You don't know if you will go back. You don't know if your job is still there, if your business is still there. You have been in the house with the family for a month. It sounds romantic, the first seven days, and then it gets highly stressful when you have everyone in that environment with nothing to do and everyone has their own stress. So, people are about to burst on one level. They are under that kind of pressure. On the other hand, we had 474 people die yesterday. You tell me how many people go outside today and touch other people, I will tell you how many people walk into a hospital three days from now. The cause and effect is that tight. This virus communicates and transfers that quickly and that precisely. So, you take a situation like New York City where social distancing cannot happen by definition. Nobody gets six square feet of real estate, right? You don't get six feet on a subway car or on a bus or sidewalk. You will see those numbers go up. It is an impossible balance, Trevor. It's impossible to make people, to make both sides happy, if you will. And you just have to accept that. And for me it's going to be about the data. We're going to do testing. We're going to look at the hospitalization rate. We're going to look at that death rate. And you don't start to reopen until you haves those numbers under control.
Trevor Noah: So, what is that number for you? Do you have that number? Is there a number that medical professionals or experts have given to you and said this is the number that we think activates New York's reopening?
Governor Cuomo: They won't give me the number, Trevor, because you're right, nobody has been here on any of these situations. What they will say is the number will decline to a level that is basically a low constant. Because you can't stop all transmission of the virus. We're never going to get down to zero. So, when you get down to the lowest level you can, that is your low point. Because remember, the economy is not really closed down. You still have essential workers out there. You have people on buses and transportation and people in grocery stores. So that will be some low level constant and once we hit that number then you can talk about starting to reopen.
Trevor Noah: So, we're seeing governors around America, we're seeing leaders around the world using different tactics to reopen their country. For instance, in Denmark they started opening up a few schools. In Germany they're getting ready to do that. In Georgiathey said they are going straight to bowling alleys and hair dressing salons, et cetera. Doyou have an idea? Are you going to say to New Yorkers we will start with these industries or this world and then we're going to move to this or that? Or does it all open at once? Doyou have an idea of what that would be?
Governor Cuomo: No, it has to be phased in. It has to be slow and building and watch that infection rate as you start to open up the valve to reopen, right? As you increase the flow, keep your eye on that infection rate. We're going to have the most aggressive testing program ever done just to monitor that infection rate. Remember, the hospitalization rate is too late. Hospitalization rate is people who are so sick they went into a hospital. Wewant to track the infection rate. So we watch that, start opening the flow slowly and then basically it is a matrix. How essential is the business and how high a risk does the business pose? The more essential businesses first and the lower risk businesses first. So, barbershops, hair salons, to me they are on the end of the chain because they are not that essential. People would argue, but in the scope of things, they are not that essentialand they are high risk because I want to see a person perform a haircut and maintain social distancing while they give you a haircut. And I want to see the haircut that they do after they did it socially distant. So that would be at the back end, right? On the front end, you would just basically be doing the next traunch of essential services, right? What is the next level of essential and low risk essential?
Trevor Noah: Well, that's part one with Governor Cuomo and we will have more right after this break.
Trevor Noah: Earlier today, I spoke with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, here is more of the interview.
Trevor Noah: You are in an interesting place right now where you are the Governor of New York, but you are one of many governors who has entered into a pact to try and open up a region. Because as you said publicly, the virus doesn't follow state lines. You can't implement approach without the federal government helping you where it needs to. Now, yourself and Trump have gone back and forth, but one thing you've both acknowledged is that when it comes down to it, you know how to communicate and you work together. Youhad a meeting with the President. Was there anything fruitful from that meeting? Is there anything that is going to come from that meeting? And what is the relationship between yourself and Trump slash the federal government right now in getting New York what it needs?
Governor Cuomo: The relationship between myself and the President is the President doesn't like me. That is the relationship. It is unambiguous, it is honest, it is open. And he doesn't like my politics, let's say. And we have been at political loggerheads many times over the past few years. If you look at his twitter account, you will see my name quite often, none of it good, Trevor, none of it good. And I have sued the federal government a number of times. So, it is open and it is not necessarily loving. Having said that, we had a meeting in the White House and it was a very productive meeting. And I don't mean in diplomatic, conceptual talk. It was an honest, open, granular, detailed conversation about this subject of testing which is totally new for everyone. It's an impossible undertaking because the numbers are just so extraordinary and there is so much urgency to it. But we had a very honest conversation and we went through what is testing, and what should the state do and what should the federal government do. We basically allocated tasks. So it was a very positive conversation. And look, I give them credit because it is hard to actually sit down with someone who you have differences with and say put that all aside and let's just do our job here - our respective jobs - because it is bigger than we are. And that is what yesterday was. It was forget everything else. We're talking about life and death.We're talking about the profound moment of our history that we will experience and we have a job to do because we're in a position, and let's just do it and forget everything else.And that is the way it should be. Who cares how he feels or how I feel? Who cares about how I feel about him personally? My feelings are irrelevant. My emotions are irrelevant. Just do the job. Who cares about what I think or what he thinks? And that's what yesterday was.
Trevor Noah: It is really great to hear. And the testing part of it is what really jumps out for me because one thing most people seem to agree upon all across the world is with testing that is going to be our best defense against coronavirus before a vaccine - testing and tracing this virus. What does that mean though for you as a the Governor of New York.Does it mean every New Yorker has some method where they are self-testing or getting tested and then monitoring themselves? Does it mean that people who come from out of state or out of country can or cannot come in unless they are tested? I'm really intrigued by how this will work because unless the whole world is doing the same thing, one hole might be a local for everybody. It could sink the entire ship. So what does that mean for you in terms of testing and how it will be applied?
Governor Cuomo: There will always be a net with many holes in it to stick with your analogy. I don't think you're going to have enough tests anywhere to design the perfect system, okay. Testing capacity - we are trying to jump start a testing laboratory system that just doesn't do this. I have private labs in my state, there are national manufacturers of lab kits and lab equipment, but we're asking them to go to 50 times what they've been doing. If you took every machine in the state of New York that does this, and you ran itself seven days a week, 24 hours a day, you could get up to about 40,000 tests per day, all right. That is the maximum capacity. Sounds like a lot, but it's not when you are talking about 19 million people. I have done more tests in this state than any state in the United States. We do more tests than any country per capita and we have tested about 500,000 people. Sounds like a lot of people. But again, not on a population of 19 million, not on a workforce of 9 million. And that was 500 in one month. You want to bring them back based on tests, you can't do it.
What tests can do, is monitor the spread of the virus. That you can do with tests. And that is the single most important thing to me. Because as you are opening, the reopening valve and increasing the flow, what you need to know is how many people are getting infected and that testing can do for you. It can also do antibody testing, which tells us how many people were infected but also identifies people who can do the convalescent plasma treatment, which is important. And it gives employers a tool in their workplace to test a smaller number so you know for those that next tranche of essential businesses that their workers are fine. But you are never going to be able to do a net that covers New York or any other state.
Trevor Noah: As the governor, you are facing a pandemic right now, in one of the most affected places in the world. The horizon, unfortunately, brings with it another dark side and that is people's finances. You know, yes, some people may have been able to stop paying their mortgage, some may have been given a little leeway to pay their rent or not pay their rent. What happens on the other side of this? Is there a plan to help people, to help New Yorkers who now may have a landlord who says well, you owe me two times the rent, now you owe me double this or double that, is there any plans to try and alleviate that stress that may be felt post-coronavirus?
Governor Cuomo: We're talking about it, Trevor, and we are thinking about it. We don't have a specific plan yet because we don't know how bad it is. I have said short term no one can be evicted for nonpayment, okay. So, you are out of work, you are not having a check. You cannot be evicted for nonpayment. That is the immediate short-term problem, right. Depending on how long this goes, you will have other issues down the road, no doubt. The expression, "Stone to stone across the morass," how do you get across the morass? And that's all we right now is a morass in front of us. Stone to stone. You don't have to figure out the whole path, just find the next firm stone to advance your progress. And that's what we are doing. So, deal with it here and now, and then we'll figure out the future when we actually see what the future is, because were we have been wrong from day one here, right. Every projection has turned out to be incorrect. So, I am at the point where, let me see the facts that I am dealing with and then we'll deal with it.
Trevor Noah: When we come back, we will complete the trilogy of my interview with Governor Cuomo.
Trevor Noah: In today's episode we've been going in-depth with Governor Andrew Cuomo, so here is the final part of our interview.
...
Trevor Noah: One thing you've done as governor that has been particularly unique amongst leaders is you haven't just I think given people platitudes, you came out with really stern warnings really early on, you were very grim in your forecast, you just told the people what information you had. It's a very unique way to handle a press conference. You've also been very personal in telling the stories that you've told.
Trevor Noah: Is there a reason you chose to do this because some of these, I'm going to hide it all and not share anything with the public, I'll just make them feel good. You've chosen a completely different approach. Why? Because I haven't slept at night and I feel like you could have carried some of that burden for me but I want to know why you chose to not do that?
Governor Cuomo: We had our first case on March 1. I was going to put in some of the most dramatic government mandates in history. No other governor has shut down the economy. No other governor has ever said you have to stay home. If New Yorkers had said, no, I'm not doing it, and New Yorkers are a defiant bunch, I would have been powerless. I can't enforce a stay at home order for 19 million people. The ability to have a plan was purely dependent on New Yorkers buying in and they are smart, and they are cynical, and if they don't believe you, or you haven't made your argument and you haven't laid out the facts, they're not going to do it - especially when you're asking them to do something they don't want to do, especially when you are asking them to do something they have never done before. I mean just think about saying to New Yorkers, everybody must stay home, lock the door, you can't go outside, except to go buy food and then you have to run right back home. No. No. I am a native New Yorker. My first instinct is no, I'm not doing that. That's nice but I'm not doing it. So they have to believe it. They have to understand it. And I am not in the business of not telling the truth or trying to manipulate or I'm only going to tell you what you can handle because I'm worried about what you can actually absorb. No. I am not there to filter. I am not there to manipulate. Here is the situation. Here are the facts. I am going to tell you everything I know. You know everything I know. And just the way I know it. No sugarcoating.
Trevor Noah: There is no lying that everyone has been affected by this. Some days I feel like life is normal. Some days I feel like this is the craziest thing we have ever experienced and it swings wildly and I know everyone has a different experience of it. I don't know what it's like to be a leader, a governor of a state where thousands of people are dying and you are hearing this, you are seeing the stories, you are responsible for these lives. You are not responsible for the deaths but you are responsible for the lives of the people and keeping everybody safe, as safe as you can. What has that done for you as a person? Like how are you doing and how are you doling with this?
Governor Cuomo: On the communication - which as I said is so important because really this is all a voluntary program by New Yorkers, they changed their behavior, they brought down the infection rate - but I gave them the information. Part of the information was personal because this is traumatic. This is PTSD for an entire generation that will talk about this and it is personal. So I tried to communicate how I feel personally and my fear and my anxiety as part of this to say to you, you are not alone. Everyone is feeling this. I am feeling it too. The one differentiation is I have to deal with the number of deaths in the state. Fifteen thousand people, Trevor. 9/11, 2,700 people; 9/11, 2,700 people. That was supposed to be the worst experience of my life, I believed. Twenty-seven hundred people. This is 15,000 people, 474 people yesterday. That weighs heavily on me.
I can sit here and say to you, "I believe that we did everything that could possibly be done." I don't believe we lost anyone because we didn't have a bed, we didn't have doctors and nurses. We did that, but we still lost 15,000 people. I still am the Governor and I still hold myself responsible and I still say to myself, "What else could I do? What else could I do? What else could I do?" Was there anything else that we could be doing right now. That is a very heavy burden to bear.
Trevor Noah: You've also had an interesting connection to the coronavirus on a very personal level. I know we've got to let you go soon, but I wanted to chat with you a little bit about a strange journey that many of us have gone on where we got introduced to a loveand a friendship that you share with your brother who is on CNN. For many people, we've never seen this side of you. We've never seen you and your brother, the way you joke with each other and then it came out that Chris had coronavirus. Now all of a sudden his world was turned upside down. Did any of that experience shake you in a different way when it became that much closer to you as a person?
Governor Cuomo: Oh yeah. For sure it did. Again, in the same way the powerlessness. Powerlessness. There's my brother and he's my man. He's my best friend and you know I don't like to give him any credit because that's the whole big brother, little brother thing. But the guy is a superstar, he really is and he's a beautiful guy. Just a beauty.
He gets sick, he's in his basement. I can't even go see him. Then his wife gets sick, she's quarantined upstairs. He's quarantined in the basement. He's got 3 kids, a seventeen-year-old and two younger kids and I can't go see him, I can't help the kids. It's this terrible nightmare of a science-fiction movie where you can have loved ones with this disease where nobody knows whether you're going to live or die. I kept saying to him, "Don't worry, you're young and you're fine." Yeah, sure, but who knows? Yes, it tends to attack seniors, but you also have younger people who are dying. There's nothing I can do. I'm his big brother, I love him more than anybody. I'm the Governor of the state. Nothing that I can do to help.
That is a humbling situation to be in. It just shows you how we all try to be in control. You're in control of nothing. You're in control of nothing at the end of the day. Men plan and God laughs. It's, on top of all the disorientation, on top of the responsibility, then you just have this real life situation where you're worried every day. Is he going to be the one that could lose his life, that could die from this. It does bring it home. It does bring it home, Trevor.
Trevor Noah: Governor, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Hopefully we'll be seeing you on the show on the other side of this. Look after yourself, mentally, physically and thank you so much for joining us on the Daily Social Distancing Show.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you. I'll keep watching.
Trevor Noah: Have a good one
April 23, 2020.
Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces State Health Department Will Partner with Attorney General James to Investigate Nursing Home Violations. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-announces-state-health-department-will-partner
Preliminary Phase I Results of Antibody Testing Study Show 13.9% of the Population Have COVID-19 Antibodies
Announces New Initiative to Ramp Up Testing in African-American and Latino Communities by Working with Places of Worship
Expanded COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing at NYCHA Facilities Begins Today
Announces $30 Million in Child Care Scholarships for Essential Workers and Supplies for Child Care Providers
Confirms 6,244 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 263,460; New Cases in 44 Counties
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the State Department of Health is partnering with Attorney General Letitia James to investigate nursing homes who violate Executive Orders requiring these facilities to communicate COVID-19 test results and deaths to residents' families.
The Governor also announced a new directive requiring nursing homes to immediately report to DOH the actions they have taken to comply with all DOH and CDC laws, regulations, directives and guidance. DOH will inspect facilities that have not complied with these directives, including separation and isolation policies, staffing policies and inadequate personal protective equipment, and if DOH determines that the facilities failed to comply with the directives and guidance, DOH will immediately require the facility to submit an action plan. Facilities could be fined $10,000 per violation or potentially lose their operating license.
The Governor previously issued Executive Orders and the Health Department and CDC have issued guidance requiring nursing homes to provide personal protective equipment and temperature checks for staff; isolate COVID residents in quarantine; separate staff and transfer COVID residents within a facility to another long-term care facility or to another non-certified location; notify all residents and their family members within 24 hours if any resident tests positive for COVID or if any resident suffers a COVID related death; and readmit COVID positive residents only if they have the ability to provide adequate level of care under DOH and CDC guidelines.
Additionally, Governor Cuomo and Attorney General James announced New York State will increase staffing through the New York state professional staffing portal and expand training and technical assistance for nursing homes to use the professional staffing portal. The State will also continue to provide PPE to these facilities on an emergency basis, and families of nursing home residents who are concerned about the care they are getting can file complaints by calling 833-249-8499 or by visiting www.ag.ny.gov/nursinghomes.
Nursing homes have been our top priority since day one, and the state has put in place very strict rules and regulations during this crisis to protect and support both vulnerable residents and frontline workers in these facilities.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor Cuomo also announced the preliminary results of phase one of the state's antibody testing survey. The survey developed a baseline infection rate by testing 3,000 people at grocery stores and other box stores over two days in 19 counties and 40 localities across the state. The preliminary results show 13.9 percent of the population have COVID-19 antibodies and are now immune to the virus.
The Governor also announced a new initiative to ramp up testing in African-American and Latino communities by using churches and places of worship in those communities as a network or possible testing sites. The Governor will partner with Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Representative Yvette Clarke and Representative Nydia Velázquez on this initiative.
The Governor also announced expanded COVID-19 diagnostic testing for residents of public housing in New York City is beginning today. The Governor previously announced the new partnership with Ready Responders to ramp up testing at NYCHA facilities.
The Governor also announced that New York State will provide child care scholarships to essential workers. Essential workers include first responders such as health care providers, pharmaceutical staff, law enforcement, firefighters, food delivery workers, grocery store employees and others who are needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Child care costs will be covered with $30 million in federal CARES Act funding for essential staff whose income is less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level - or $78,600 for a family of four - and will be paid at market rate for each region statewide. Essential workers can use the funding to pay for their existing care arrangement. If an essential worker needs child care, they can contact their local child care resource and referral agency to find openings.
The Governor also announced the CARES funding will also be used to purchase supplies for child care providers statewide who remain open, including masks, gloves, diapers, baby wipes, baby formula and food. Child care resource and referral agencies will receive grants totaling approximately $600 per provider. Providers looking for supplies should contact their local child care resource and referral agency.
"Nursing homes have been our top priority since day one, and the state has put in place very strict rules and regulations during this crisis to protect and support both vulnerable residents and frontline workers in these facilities," Governor Cuomo said. "These facilities have become the optimum feeding ground for the virus, and the State Department of Health is going to partner with Attorney General Letitia James to ensure nursing homes are following the rules we've put in place and properly caring for and protecting our seniors as we continue to fight this virus."
"We recognize that the most vulnerable New Yorkers are continuing to suffer through this crisis at nursing homes across the state," said Attorney General James. "While our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit continues to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect in the system, we launched a hotline where residents, families, or members of the public can share complaints about nursing homes that have not provided required communications with families about COVID-19 diagnosis or fatalities. The hotline will also accept complaints about nursing home abuse and neglect, including failure to follow rules to keep residents safe. Every nursing home should be provided with adequate PPE and testing, and enhanced infection control protocols must be implemented to protect residents. I am grateful to the workers in our nursing homes who continue to serve and support our vulnerable residents. These workers deserve our respect and must also be tested and protected during this time. My office will continue to work hard to protect nursing homes residents and make sure their rights are preserved during this crisis and beyond."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 6,244 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 263,460 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 263,460 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
County
Total Positive
New Positive
Albany
758
21
Allegany
30
0
Broome
224
5
Cattaraugus
37
0
Cayuga
37
1
Chautauqua
26
0
Chemung
76
1
Chenango
82
3
Clinton
52
1
Columbia
123
6
Cortland
25
0
Delaware
50
0
Dutchess
2460
69
Erie
2450
217
Essex
22
0
Franklin
13
0
Fulton
28
0
Genesee
126
4
Greene
89
2
Hamilton
3
0
Herkimer
54
1
Jefferson
56
2
Lewis
9
0
Livingston
41
2
Madison
106
0
Monroe
1,152
40
Montgomery
39
1
Nassau
32,124
569
Niagara
295
27
NYC
145,855
3,423
Oneida
317
16
Onondaga
600
74
Ontario
73
0
Orange
6,816
126
Orleans
59
3
Oswego
49
0
Otsego
50
1
Putnam
615
4
Rensselaer
191
5
Rockland
9,828
129
Saratoga
265
1
Schenectady
288
8
Schoharie
21
1
Schuyler
7
0
Seneca
18
0
St. Lawrence
139
16
Steuben
171
0
Suffolk
29,567
713
Sullivan
580
19
Tioga
40
1
Tompkins
119
0
Ulster
942
29
Warren
119
11
Washington
80
7
Wayne
53
1
Westchester
25,959
683
Wyoming
41
1
Yates
11
0
April 23, 2020.
Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces State Health Department Will Partner with Attorney General James to Investigate Nursing Home Violations. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-announces-12
Preliminary Phase I Results of Antibody Testing Study Show 13.9% of the Population Have COVID-19 Antibodies
Announces New Initiative to Ramp Up Testing in African-American and Latino Communities by Working with Places of Worship
Expanded COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing at NYCHA Facilities Begins Today
Announces $30 Million in Child Care Scholarships for Essential Workers and Supplies for Child Care Providers
Confirms 6,244 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 263,460; New Cases in 44 Counties
Governor Cuomo: "Nursing homes are our top priority. They have been from day one. Remember how the nursing home system works. They are private facilities. They get paid to provide a service. They get regulated by the State government. There are certain rules and regulations that they must follow and we put in additional rules and regulations on nursing homes in the midst of this crisis. Staff must have appropriate PPE. They must have their temperatures checked before they come into the facility. There are no visitors who are coming into the facility which is a tremendous hardship but it's necessary to protect public health. If they have a COVID-positive person in the facility that person has to be in quarantine. They have to have several staff for the COVID residents versus the non-COVID residents."
Cuomo: "The State has very strict guidelines on privately run facilities. They get paid to take care of a resident. That resident, that patient must have a State-directed level of care. If they cannot provide that they can't have the resident in their facility - period. Those are the rules."
Cuomo: "We're going to undertake an investigation of nursing homes now to make sure they're following the rules. It's going to be a joint Department of Health and Attorney General investigation, but those are the rules. They get paid to take care of a resident and they have to do it in accordance with State rules and if they don't we will take appropriate action. The State Department of Health and the Attorney General are going to be commencing an investigation to make sure all of those policies are in place and being followed. If they're not being followed, they can be subjected to a fine or they can lose their license. It's that simple."
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the State Department of Health is partnering with Attorney General Letitia James to investigate nursing homes who violate Executive Orders requiring these facilities to communicate COVID-19 test results and deaths to residents' families.
The Governor also announced a new directive requiring nursing homes to immediately report to DOH the actions they have taken to comply with all DOH and CDC laws, regulations, directives and guidance. DOH will inspect facilities that have not complied with these directives, including separation and isolation policies, staffing policies and inadequate personal protective equipment, and if DOH determines that the facilities failed to comply with the directives and guidance, DOH will immediately require the facility to submit an action plan. Facilities could be fined $10,000 per violation or potentially lose their operating license.
The Governor previously issued Executive Orders and the Health Department and CDC have issued guidance requiring nursing homes to provide personal protective equipment and temperature checks for staff; isolate COVID residents in quarantine; separate staff and transfer COVID residents within a facility to another long-term care facility or to another non-certified location; notify all residents and their family members within 24 hours if any resident tests positive for COVID or if any resident suffers a COVID related death; and readmit COVID positive residents only if they have the ability to provide adequate level of care under DOH and CDC guidelines.
Additionally, Governor Cuomo and Attorney General James announced New York State will increase staffing through the New York state professional staffing portal and expand training and technical assistance for nursing homes to use the professional staffing portal. The State will also continue to provide PPE to these facilities on an emergency basis, and families of nursing home residents who are concerned about the care they are getting can file complaints by calling 833-249-8499 or by visiting www.ag.ny.gov/nursinghomes.
Governor Cuomo also announced the preliminary results of phase one of the state's antibody testing survey. The survey developed a baseline infection rate by testing 3,000 people at grocery stores and other box stores over two days in 19 counties and 40 localities across the state. The preliminary results show 13.9 percent of the population have COVID-19 antibodies and are now immune to the virus.
The Governor also announced a new initiative to ramp up testing in African-American and Latino communities by using churches and places of worship in those communities as a network or possible testing sites. The Governor will partner with Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Representative Yvette Clarke and Representative Nydia Velázquez on this initiative.
The Governor also announced expanded COVID-19 diagnostic testing for residents of public housing in New York City is beginning today. The Governor previously announced the new partnership with Ready Responders to ramp up testing at NYCHA facilities.
The Governor also announced that New York State will provide child care scholarships to essential workers. Essential workers include first responders such as health care providers, pharmaceutical staff, law enforcement, firefighters, food delivery workers, grocery store employees and others who are needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Child care costs will be covered with $30 million in federal CARES Act funding for essential staff whose income is less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level - or $78,600 for a family of four - and will be paid at market rate for each region statewide. Essential workers can use the funding to pay for their existing care arrangement. If an essential worker needs child care, they can contact their local child care resource and referral agency to find openings.
The Governor also announced the CARES funding will also be used to purchase supplies for child care providers statewide who remain open, including masks, gloves, diapers, baby wipes, baby formula and food. Child care resource and referral agencies will receive grants totaling approximately $600 per provider. Providers looking for supplies should contact their local child care resource and referral agency.
VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here, with ASL interpretation available on YouTube here and in TV quality format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Okay, good morning. Good to see all of you. We are going to go through some facts. I was talking to a reporter yesterday who said basically, you know, you give us grim facts, troubling facts. I don't give grim facts. I don't give happy facts. You know, facts are facts. And when we started this, I said the best thing I can do is to give people the truth and give people the facts, separate from an opinion, separate from my spin, separate from what I would like to believe, what I hope - just facts.
And the reason I do that is because everything we're doing is basically voluntary, on behalf of people, right? State government, local government, federal government, can't really, doesn't have the power to enforce stay-at-home orders. If 19 million people said, I'm going out today, they would go out. But the belief was if they have the facts, if they understand the facts, they'll act prudently in connection with the facts. Now, some of the facts have been disturbing. Some of the facts have been ugly. But those are the facts and that's my job, is to present the facts as facts. If I have an editorial comment on the facts, I give it to you. But I want you to know, that's my editorial comment, versus what data or science will say. Also, our Muslim brothers and sisters begin the observation of Ramadan this evening and we wish them all the best.
The hospitalization rate is down again, so that is good news. The overall, if you project the curve, everybody's looking at curves nowadays. If you look at the curve, the curve continues to go down. And that's also in the total hospitalization number, bounces up and down a little bit, but it's clearly down. Number of intubations bounces a little bit, but it's also clearly down. The number of new COVID cases walking in the door or being diagnosed is relatively flat. That is not great news. We would like to see that going down but it's not going up either. Number of lives lost is still breathtakingly tragic - 438. That number is not coming down as fast as we would like to see that number come down.
And what we're looking at this point is, okay, we're on the downside of the curve, the numbers are trending down. Do they continue to trend down or do they pop back up? If they continue to trend down, how fast is the decline and how low will the decline go? In other words, if 1,300 people or about that number keep walking in the door, then you're going to have a hospitalization rate proportionate with the number of people walking in the door. So we want to see the number of people walking in the door reduced, the number of new infections reduced, so we hit a low plateau, if you will. But we don't know what that is and we don't know when it is. And if you look at the number of incoming cases, it's been remarkably flat for the past several days. So that's the best indicator of how containment is working and how the close-down policies are working. And over the past few days, we've basically flattened at 1,300 new cases a day, which is not great. We would like to see those new cases reducing even more and we'd like to see them reducing faster.
You then have other long-term questions. Is there a second wave of the virus? We talk about the 1918 pandemic. It came in three waves. Is there a second wave? Does the virus mutate and come back? The federal officials are starting to talk about the fall and potential issues in the fall. They're worried about the virus waning somewhat during the summer. Remember, there was talk, will it go away when the weather gets warm? No one is really saying it will go away when the weather gets warm in the summer. But there's still a theory that the virus could slow during the summer but then come back in the fall. If it comes back in the fall, then it comes back with the normal flu season. That's then problematic because you are then quote/unquote testing for the flu and you're testing for covid on top of all the other tests you do. That could be a possible overwhelming of the testing system.
If people could have the flu or could have COVID in the fall and they don't know which it is they could get nervous and start going into the health care system which could then bring back a capacity issue in the health care system. So that's something we have to worry about and watch.
Nursing homes are our top priority. They have been from day one. Remember how the nursing home system works. They are private facilities. They get paid to provide a service. They get regulated by the State government. There are certain rules and regulations that they must follow and we put in additional rules and regulations on nursing homes in the midst of this crisis. Staff must have appropriate PPE. They must have their temperatures checked before they come into the facility. There are no visitors who are coming into the facility which is a tremendous hardship but it's necessary to protect public health. If they have a COVID-positive person in the facility that person has to be in quarantine. They have to have several staff for the COVID residents versus the non-COVID residents.
If they can't care for the person in the facility they have to transfer the person to another facility. The nursing home is responsible for providing appropriate care. If they cannot provide that care then they have to transfer the person to another facility. They have to notify residents and family members within 24 hours if any resident tests positive for COVID or if any resident suffers a COVID-related death. That is a regulation they have to follow and they have to readmit COVID-positive residents but only if they have the ability to provide the adequate level of care under Department of Health and CDC guidelines.
If they do not have the ability to provide the appropriate level of care then they have to transfer that patient or they call the Department of Health and the Department of Health will transfer that patient. But that is how the relationship works.
The State has very strict guidelines on privately run facilities. They get paid to take care of a resident. That resident, that patient must have a State-directed level of care. If they cannot provide that they can't have the resident in their facility - period. Those are the rules.
We're going to undertake an investigation of nursing homes now to make sure they're following the rules. It's going to be a joint Department of Health and Attorney General investigation, but those are the rules. They get paid to take care of a resident and they have to do it in accordance with State rules and if they don't we will take appropriate action. The State Department of Health and the Attorney General are going to be commencing an investigation to make sure all of those policies are in place and being followed. If they're not being followed, they can be subjected to a fine or they can lose their license. It's that simple.
Testing is going to be a major operation that happens from now until the situation is over. It's new, it's technical, it's complex, it's a political football, but testing does a number of things for us. Number one, it reduces the spread of the virus by finding people who are positive, tracing their contacts and isolating them. That's a function of testing.
Testing also - what they call anti-body testing - you test people to find out if they have the antibodies. Why? Because if they have the antibodies they can donate blood for convalescent plasma which is one of the therapeutic treatments. So you want to find people who had it so you can identify them to donate for convalescent plasma. The testing also can tell you the infection rate in the population, where it's higher, where it's lower, to inform you on a reopening strategy and then when you start reopening, you can watch that infection rate to see if it's going up. If it's going up, slow down on the reopening strategy. There are different forms of testing for different purposes. All of them are important. It was vital for any state, I believe, to first get a baseline study of where you are on the infection rate. All we know, to-date, is the hospitalization rate. How many people are coming into hospitals. That is all we have been tracking. That's all we know.
From that, you had all sorts of anecdotal extrapolations on the hospitalization rate saying, I think the infection rate, I think the infection rate is that. I said, "I want to have the infection rate." We have undertaken the largest, most comprehensive study of New York State to find out what is the infection rate. That, we started a few days ago. Sample size so far, 3,000 people statewide. Let's find out what the infection rate is. We have preliminary data on phase one and this is going to be ongoing. We did about 3,000 tests. We're going to continue this testing on a rolling basis. We'll have a larger and larger sample, but I want to see snapshots of that is happening with that rate. Is it going up? It is flat? Is it going down? It can really give us data to make decisions.
We did 3,000 surveys in about 19 counties, 40 localities across the state. The surveys were collected at grocery stores, box stores, et cetera. That's important. It means you're testing people who, by definition, are out of the home and not at work. What does that mean? I don't know, but that has to be a factor that's taken into consideration. These are people who are out and about shopping. They were not people who are in their home. They are not people who are isolated. They are not people who are quarantined who could argue probably had a lower rate of infection because they wouldn't come out of the house. These are people who were outside. These are people who were not at work so they're probably not essential workers. So that has to be calibrated.
What we found so far is the statewide number is 13.9 percent tested positive for having the antibodies. What does that mean? It means these are people who were infected and developed the anti-bodies to fight the infection. So they were infected 3 weeks ago, 4 weeks ago, 5 weeks ago, 6 weeks ago, but they had the virus, they developed the antibodies and they are now quote, unquote recovered, 13.9 percent, just about 14 percent.
Breakdown male, female: Female 12 percent positive, males close to 16 percent, 15.9 percent positive. Regionally, Long Island at 16.7, New York City at 21.2, Westchester, Rockland 11.7 and rest of state, 3.6. This basically quantifies what we've been seeing anecdotally and what we have known, but it puts numbers to it. Rest of the state is basically upstate New York, 3.6. It's been about 7-8 percent of the cases that we've had in the state. Westchester, Rockland we had an initial significant problem. Remember Westchester had the largest, hottest cluster in the country at one time. Eleven percent, so it's literally somewhere in between. New York City 21, which again, supports what we knew anecdotally. Long Island, 16.7 so it's not that far behind New York City and it is significantly worse than Westchester, Rockland. We've been talking about Westchester, Rockland and Nassau, Suffolk basically as one. But there is a variation with the Long Island numbers. By race, Asians about 11.7 percent, African-American, 22 percent, Latino, Hispanic, 22 percent, multi none other, 22 percent, white 9.1 percent. This reflects more the regional breakdown, African-American and Latinos are in this survey, disproportionately from New York City, and New York City is at 21 percent. So, the African-American number, Latino number is 22 percent. Upstate, whites, they're talking about more upstate, which is 9, but it's 3.6 in the survey. By age, nothing extraordinary here. We did not survey anyone under 18. So it starts with 18 years old. 18 to 24, 8 percent. 45 to 54, 16. 75 plus, 13.
But it's a small percent of the total. Again, how many 75-year-olds were out shopping and about? That is the group that's supposed to be isolating because they are the most vulnerable. 65 to 74 also. But that's the distribution. Again, the sample was by definition, people who were outside the home, so we have to analyze that. What does that do to the numbers? But that is a factor that has to be taken into consideration. If the infection rate is 13.9 percent, then it changes the theories of what the death rate is if you get infected. 13 percent of the population is about 2.7 million people who have been infected. If you look at what we have now as a death total, which is 15,500, that would be about .5 percent death rate. But, two big caveats. First, it's preliminary data, it's only 3,000. Well, 3,000 is a significant data set, but, it's still preliminary.
And, when we say there are 15,500 deaths, that number is going to go up. Those deaths are only hospitalization or nursing home deaths. That does not have what are called at-home deaths, right. This doesn't include people who died in their home and were not in a hospital or a nursing home. We still have to compile all that data. And then the at-home deaths, you have to go back and try to find out what was the cause of death for those at-home deaths, and then add them to the number of deaths connected to COVID. It gets even more complicated because in California, they're now finding deaths that go back to last December or January that they believe were COVID-related. And people didn't even know about COVID at that time. So, if you then go back to December and January, and start to look at the number of deaths and check them for a COVID-related death, I don't even know how you do that practically, you'll see that total number of deaths go up.
But that 15,500 is not an accurate total number of deaths, in my opinion. Well, fact. It's not an accurate total number of deaths because it does not count in-home deaths, at-home deaths. It's not accurate because there will have been many other deaths that were never tested for COVID that should be attributed to that number. But, with those caveats, that's what we see in this survey. It also supports the decision that we talked about to have a regional analysis and decision-making. Upstate New York is 3.6 percent. New York City is 21 percent. What you do in a place with 21 percent is not the same thing necessarily that you would do in a place with 3.6 percent. It's just not. It's the same theory that some states open now, and New York doesn't. Because the facts should dictate the action. If the facts dictate the action - you have different facts, you have different action. So when we talk about a regional analysis on reopening, that's exactly right because look at the facts in that area.
But there's a second complicating factor, because there always is. What you do in a region still has to be coordinated because you have a pent up demand in the whole tristate area where one region opens up for business - you could see people come in, literally, from the tristate area and overwhelm that region. We try to rationalize with Connecticut and New Jersey because there have been facilities in Connecticut that were open and you have all sorts of New York license plates there. So, yes, regional analysis, but understand on that regional analysis that you still exist in a tristate area with millions of people who are looking for something to do to get out of the house and put the kids in the car and go. That has to be factored in because that is a significant factor.
We also have to do more to get testing in the African-American and Latino communities. We talked about health disparities. This state did not have the kind of disparities we've seen in other states, but I want to understand them and I want to address them. There are going to be a number of factors why you could have a higher percentage of positives in the African-American, Latino community. There were existing health disparities. There were existing comorbidities. Underlying illnesses, diabetes, et cetera. I also believe you have a greater percentage of the "essential workers" who are African-American and Latino. While everyone else or many other people had the opportunity to lockdown at home as terrible as that was, the essential workers had to get up every morning and go out and drive the bus and drive the train and deliver food and do all those essential services that allowed people to stay home.
Also, you have more people in the New York City area. More people getting on subways, getting on buses. More people dealing with that density. We know that's where it communicates. But, New York City Housing Authority - we're starting more testing today at New York City Housing Authority facilities. You talk about public housing. I was a HUD secretary. I worked in public housing all across this nation. That is some of the densest housing in the United States of America. People crammed into elevators, crammed through small lobbies, overcrowding in their apartment. So, public housing does pose a special issue and it should be addressed.
I also want to get more testing in African-American and Latino communities all through the New York City area, including Long Island after this. I want to work with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and Congress member Yvette Clarke and Congress member Nydia Velazquez to help us work with the churches in those communities. The churches have volunteered, many of them, to be testing sites. One of the problems is finding a testing site, but many churches have said they would be willing to use their facilities for testing sites. As we ramp us the testing, I want to get it into the African-American, Latino community and using the churches as a network, I think, is going to be extraordinarily effective. But this is something New York should lead the way on - answering this question and addressing this issue.
Also, I want to speak to a point from our friends in Washington. Senator McConnell, who is the head of the Senate. You know, we've been talking about funding for state and local governments. It was not in the bill that the House is going to pass today. They said don't worry, don't worry, don't worry the next bill. As soon as the Senate passed it, this current bill, Senator Mitch McConnell goes out and he says, "maybe the states should declare bankruptcy." Okay? This is one of the really dumb ideas of all time. You know, I said to my colleagues in Washington, I would have insisted that state and local funding was in this current bill, because I don't believe they want to fund state and local governments. Not to fund state and local governments is incredibly shortsighted. They want to fund small business, fund the airlines, I understand that. But state and local government funds police, and fire, and teachers, and schools. How do you not fund police, and fire, and teachers, and schools, in the midst of this crisis. Yes, airlines are important, yes small businesses are important, but so are police, and fire, and healthcare workers, who are the frontline workers. When you don't fund the state then states can't fund the services. It makes no sense to me.
It also makes no sense that the entire nation is dependent on what the governors do to reopen. We've established that it's up this governor, it's up to this governor, it's up to this governor. But then you're not going to fund the state government? You think I am going to do it alone? How do you think this is going to work? And then to suggest we're concerned about the economy? States should declare bankruptcy? That's how you're going to bring this national economy back, by states declaring bankruptcy? You want to see that market fall through the cellar? Let New York state declare bankruptcy, let Michigan declare bankruptcy, let Illinois declare bankruptcy, California declare bankruptcy. You will see a collapse of this national economy. So, just dumb. Vicious is saying when Senator McConnell said, "This is a blue-state bail out." What he's saying is, if you look at the states that have coronavirus problems, they tend to be Democratic states. New York, California, Michigan, Illinois, they are Democratic states. So, if you fund states that are suffering from the coronavirus, the Democratic states, don't help New York state because it is a Democratic state. How ugly a thought -- I mean just think of what he's saying. People died, 15,000 people died in New York, but they were predominantly Democrats, so why should we help them?
For crying out loud, if there was ever a time you're going to put aside your pettiness and your partisanship and this political lens that you see the world through Democrat and Republican and we help Republicans, but we don't help Democrats. That's not who we are, it's just not who we are as people. If there is ever a time for humanity and decency, now is the time. And if there was ever a time to stop your political obsessive political bias and anger, which is what its morphed into, just a political anger, now is the time and you want to politically divide this nation now? With all that's going on? How irresponsible and how reckless. I am the governor of all New Yorkers, Democrat, Republican, independent, I don't even care what your political party is, I represent you. We are all there to support each other. This is not the time or the place or the situation to start your divisive politics, it is just not.
That's why look, our rule has been very simple from day one. There is no red and blue. There should have never been a red and blue when it comes to any important issue, but certainly not now. That's not what this country is all about. It is not red and blue, it is red, white, and blue. When we talk about New York tough, we are all New York tough, Democrats and Republicans. We're all smart, we're all disciplined, and we're all unified, and we're all in this together and we understand that and that's how we operate. We operate with love and we're strong enough to say love. Say love is not a weakness. It is a strength and New Yorkers are that strong.
April 23, 2020.
Photos: at Empire State Plaza, Corning Tower Displays New York Tough. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/photos-empire-state-plaza-corning-tower-displays-new-york-tough
Governor Cuomo: "Healthcare professionals and essential workers are the ones on the front lines every day carrying us through this crisis. New Yorkers owe their lives to these true heroes who define what it means to be 'New York Tough,' and remind us that even if it is a long day, love wins - always. Tonight, the windows of the Corning Tower are illuminated with New York Tough in their honor."
Photos Available Here
Earlier tonight, Corning Tower at Empire State Plaza was lit "New York Tough" in honor of the healthcare professionals and essential workers at the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PHOTOS of Corning Tower are available here.
END